An exhibition of images of a lost urban landscape has just opened in Teesside. Peter Benson spent more than 30 years documenting the clearance of the area between Newport Bridge and the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough. Fifty of his images feature in an exhibition called Welcome to Teesside at The Heritage Gallery at Cargo Fleet, Middlesbrough.
One clear thing – the work is about the absence of people, the loss of the communities.
I went to see "Welcome to Teesside" on Monday. Great black and white pictures of Teesside going through early regeneration (mostly destruction!) in the 1960s to the 1990s. The images resonate with my time growing up there in the 1975-85 period. When I go back to visit my mother I’m struck by how little of the area I recognise now, it’s really changed.
The images document the demolition and clearance of the built environment between the Newport Bridge and the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough, together with Port Clarence, High Clarence, Haverton Hill, Seaton Carew and Hartlepool, towns we know collectively as Teesside.
As well as the images there’s supporting material such as the maps and notebooks made during the work, the depth of research and record making really adds to understanding the locations lost.
I was lucky enough to meet the photographer Peter Benson and had a really good chat about the work. He was often challenged with the question “Why are you photographing that?”, something many contemporary and documentary photographers might hear often. What is clear, the images become more valuable after a couple of decades and the exhibition is a monument to the past.
The exhibition is on until 5th June 2026. Peter told me he would be at the exhibition in person this week and again in the week of 18th May. It’s well worth a visit.
What3Words location ///valve.piles.wiped
The gallery is in a shared office complex, with a great café serving food all day. Well worth a visit for the coffee also - it was great.