"It's waiting, but I'm not quite sure what it's waiting for." ––– Luke Bennett [00:49]
George Haydock's 2014 film Pomona Island is a fantastic introduction to the site of Pomona Island, providing key information on its past, a visual and descriptive overview of its state in 2014, and musings on its future fate. It is a tribute to a place which is very special and clearly very important to many people for a range of reasons.
"...nobody's in control, and in an environment where somebody controls everything, just a mile and a half that way, this type of space becomes, equates to, freedom." ––– Richard Brooks [11:27]
It draws together beautiful cinematography of the island in its 2014 state, including close-ups of its natural beauty and panning shots of the island in the context of the city, with thoughtful commentary and reflection from a range of voices. These include an urban nature photographer, a writer and 'alternative' tour guide of Manchester, a naturalist, an academic studying space and place, and an architect. Bringing this diverse group of people together, with their varying areas of interest and relationship with the island, makes this film a particularly valuable introduction to the site, as the viewer is given a multi-faceted, broad understanding of its significance, for various reasons.
One of the main theme which emerges is that the site is a unique treasure due to its natural ecology. It is home to over 100 bird species and 150 flora species, 31 of which are identified as being of special biological importance. For this to exist in the middle of the Manchester boroughs of Salford, Trafford and Manchester is remarkable.
"This place is unique...it could be a world class nature reserve, for all the people of Manchester, tourists..." ––– James Walsh [10:00]
The film states the probable fate of the island – Peel Group own the land, and have permission to build over 800 flats on it. This would mean the loss of this wonderful ecology, this place of freedom for people and natural life alike.
"The amount of life that's going to be lost when this place becomes crushed and the big blocks of flats come...it's going to be astounding; maybe it won't even be missed, maybe people won't even notice that it's gone." ––– Luke Blazejewski [09:30]
There may be many people who live in the city who aren't aware of its existence, but to others, and certainly to much natural life, it is a paradise. It is a space which should be celebrated, people should be made of its existence and its value, and any future intervention should be sensitive and work with the ecology that thrives there.
"...building something isn't always the right solution for a piece of land or any given problem." ––– Richard Brook [11:02]
This film has given me an early insight into the importance of this island, and the importance of my design thesis project working with the ecologies of the site. I am now looking forward to visiting the site in person for the first time, to see how similar the site is to its state five years ago, when this film was made. It saddens me to know that in reality, this site is almost certainly going to be lost to the developer greed of Peel Group, but I am excited to work with such a unique site and context to propose an alternate future for the site in my design thesis project, which embraces the ecology and special freedom of the site.
"Maybe there is something to celebrate, and maybe the thing to celebrate is that here, today, for an indeterminate moment of time, this site just was – it wasn't something else, it was just...just." ––– Luke Bennett [12:29]
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