Deadlock
2019. Video, 1000s of photographs
In the looming shadow of prison hulks docked in the harbour, Jeremiah and Charles Chubb worked on this site primarily as ironmongers providing naval equipment. Frequent crimes, including daring robberies of the dockyard warehouses and escapes from the hulks led to a competition being launched for an ‘unpickable lock’. The Chubb brothers accepted the challenge and created the now familiar Chubb lock still used to this day. Their history is undoubtedly a success story which saw them soar above their humble beginnings to become locksmiths to royalty and a move to more prestigious surroundings in London. However, for those on the other side of the lock, the invention was a devastating barrier that put an end to those who relied on petty crime for survival, to those who were facing long, punishing sentences on the ships and even those women who were confined to the nearby Lock Hospital.
Daniel Street in Portsmouth was the home of the Chubb family business, the street has long since vanished in the name of progress and is now the location of Admiralty Road with its own soaring, modern accommodation. Evidence of the concern of security is still visible though behind keypads, passcodes and security men.
In this piece, we explore the relationship between the success of the Chubb lock and its direct impact on the lives of those it affected here in Portsea.
Created for 'Darkside Portside' (2019) an online walking tour set in Portsmouth.
About Darkside Portside:
"Imagine you are in 18th century Portsmouth. You are in its maritime district and Portsmouth the beating heart of an expansive British Empire. All is military precision in Portsmouth dockyards with ships being planned for their long voyages and rich spoils of war returned from far-flung corners of the globe. But this is just one story.
On the other side lies an area crowded with insalubrious pubs. If you have just come ashore you may as well have ‘Fresh Meat ‘tattooed on your forehead. Every other home is a brothel where ‘Anything your heart desires, sir’ rings out in the streets. Sailors who have seen neither land nor women folk for many a year walk unsteadily ashore, with their own riches to burn.
A bevy of Portsmouth and the region's finest poets and film-makers have imagined the stories of these times. They have put themselves in the shoes of those that came before us on the streets that stand before you."
View film on Vimeo
In the looming shadow of prison hulks docked in the harbour, Jeremiah and Charles Chubb worked on this site primarily as ironmongers providing naval equipment. Frequent crimes, including daring robberies of the dockyard warehouses and escapes from the hulks led to a competition being launched for an ‘unpickable lock’. The Chubb brothers accepted the challenge and created the now familiar Chubb lock still used to this day. Their history is undoubtedly a success story which saw them soar above their humble beginnings to become locksmiths to royalty and a move to more prestigious surroundings in London. However, for those on the other side of the lock, the invention was a devastating barrier that put an end to those who relied on petty crime for survival, to those who were facing long, punishing sentences on the ships and even those women who were confined to the nearby Lock Hospital.
Daniel Street in Portsmouth was the home of the Chubb family business, the street has long since vanished in the name of progress and is now the location of Admiralty Road with its own soaring, modern accommodation. Evidence of the concern of security is still visible though behind keypads, passcodes and security men.
In this piece, we explore the relationship between the success of the Chubb lock and its direct impact on the lives of those it affected here in Portsea.
Created for 'Darkside Portside' (2019) an online walking tour set in Portsmouth.
About Darkside Portside:
"Imagine you are in 18th century Portsmouth. You are in its maritime district and Portsmouth the beating heart of an expansive British Empire. All is military precision in Portsmouth dockyards with ships being planned for their long voyages and rich spoils of war returned from far-flung corners of the globe. But this is just one story.
On the other side lies an area crowded with insalubrious pubs. If you have just come ashore you may as well have ‘Fresh Meat ‘tattooed on your forehead. Every other home is a brothel where ‘Anything your heart desires, sir’ rings out in the streets. Sailors who have seen neither land nor women folk for many a year walk unsteadily ashore, with their own riches to burn.
A bevy of Portsmouth and the region's finest poets and film-makers have imagined the stories of these times. They have put themselves in the shoes of those that came before us on the streets that stand before you."
View film on Vimeo