I have always wanted to visit The Modernist. Along the row of stylish windows lining Manchester’s Porter Street, its viridescent lintels frame a collection of appealingly designed covers and stylish homewares that beckon you in.
Earlier this month, I finally made it when I attended the preview of Mark Wrigley’s photography exhibition, Concrete at War. During the opening, the bookshop was filled with the modish crowd one might expect from somewhere called The Modernist. Neatly turned-up jeans and carefully-cut jackets led up to a collection of jazzy eyewear, topped by variously greying and thinning hairstyles. Both rooms were buzzing with conversation punctuated by nibbles of cardamom pistachio cake and sips of beer.
To the art. In the back room, 16 black and white photographs dot the wall in two neat lines. Shot mostly on iPhone, the images spotlight the concrete structures developed in Britain between the First and Second World Wars. In Dungeness, vast concave ‘sound mirrors’ used to detect incoming aircraft stand like sentinels, their smooth faces collecting and concentrating forgotten sounds for absent listeners.
Concrete at War. Image: Mark Wrigley
Other images depict desolate stretches of British shoreline, where concrete battlements and searchlights stare blindly into open skies. There is a loneliness to these structures. Technological developments that were abandoned as rapidly as they were constructed and now crumble quietly on seashores. Mid-tone shades of grey dominate these images mirroring their building material.
Now in his 70s, Wrigley hails from an era of darkrooms and rolls of film. His work is informed by early photography, the fun of experimentation, and a love of physics. “I’m just obsessed with photography,” he says. “I used to do black and white photography when I was a kid…I’ve always played with cameras.”
He continues: “I started out studying physics and still do work with the Institute of Physics for outreach, so a bit of it for me is like ‘look, this is physics!’ That’s why I enjoy these sorts of subjects.”
Wrigley’s scientific passion shines through in the explanation for each photograph and the detailed scale model of a ‘sound mirror’, lovingly mapped from online images and carefully shelved at one end of the room.
For anyone interested in Britain’s abandoned military past or brutalist architecture, this exhibition is worth a visit. The images are enriched by text explaining their provenance and uses. As Britain faces a lack of preparedness for military action, these images are a poignant reminder of a tumultuous past that seems to be lapping once again at our shores.
Main image: copyright Mark Wrigley
Concrete at War is at The Modernist in Manchester until October 25, 2025. While you’re there it’s well worth exploring the other temptations that The Modernist has to offer.
For more information about Mark Wrigley’s work, click here.
