Photographer's mission for struggling seaside town

A photographer who has travelled to seaside towns across the UK has created a "love letter" to shine a light on struggling coastal areas.

Archie Byron, 23, spent six years photographing his hometown of Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, creating what he describes as a love letter to the area. The collection is now on display at Bristol's Arnolfini art gallery.

He describes his town "not as a beautiful or love-filled", but "home to deprivation, violence and drug addiction".

"People should love their hometowns, even when they're far from perfect," he said. "Coastal regions have always had a hard time being heard, and I see this as my chance to have my voice heard."

Talking about why he first started taking photographs, the former University of the West of England (UWE) student said: "Looking at statistics ignores so much of who these very real people are.

"A short glance at the numbers tells you a lot, but it doesn't tell you everything."

Byron, who had Tourette's as a child and lives with autism, said he hopes his photographs will reveal a different side to Weston-super-Mare than just its famous beach.

"The bleakness of the town is an integral part of the atmosphere of Weston-super-Mare, with long, drawn-out winters, only to be broken by swarms of tourists and shadeless summer days.

"We often hear about poverty in post-industrial northern towns, and this can make people from the south feel unheard in these conversations.

"I have travelled to many seaside towns in the UK, and there's something so beautifully unifying about them: we all face a lot of the same struggles. Towns are at the mercy of the seasons," he said.

From a faceless man in a yellow tracksuit holding a bunch of lemons to graffiti declaring love on a bus shelter, Byron was keen to represent people in social housing in his artwork, drawing on his own experience of continuing to live there.

His favourite photograph is one of a couple kissing in the pub his brother runs after they just got engaged.

"I'd never seen anybody propose in person, so that was really good and I was able to take the photo, it was nice because I was part of it," he said.

Lee Elkins, a tutor at UWE, described Byron's work as having a "shimmer of optimism".

He said that Byron brings Weston-super-Mare to life in a way that "someone who doesn't live in the area can't, because they're just not that connected".

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