Bridgend

Bridgend is a former industrial town in South Wales. Like many other towns in Wales, it was hit hard by the loss of the mining industry and is still struggling to recover fully. However, Bridgend has another tragedy hanging over it: it was in the centre of a media storm surrounding a collection of teenagers who all committed suicide in a similar way around the same time. Altogether, there have been 17 of these suicides, ranging from the ages of 13-17. Virtually all of them hanged themselves. The media speculated that ‘cult suicides’ were to blame and that the teenagers had made a pact to take their own lives. However, police never found any substantial evidence to link the suicides together.

The aim of this project was to photograph landscapes in Bridgend and portray the atmosphere that envelops the town. I wanted to find out why Bridgend was at the centre of the suicides, and if the town had an obvious feeling of despair. The photographs show a sense of misery and depict the town as depressing and grey. They not only show how the town may have affected the suicides in the first place but also what the suicides and the media have left behind them. Bridgend will always be associated with teenagers taking their own lives and this seems to shroud the town.