Mike Goldwater & Sarah Tait on Thanet’s varied landscapes and diverse communities
By Chris Horn
Documentary photographer, photojournalist and founding member of photo agency Network Photographers, Mike Goldwater has published several photography books, including London Underground and Promised Lands.
The winner of two World Press Awards and the Tom Hopkinson Magazine Photographer of the Year teamed up with Sarah Tait
Having worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and Asia, he turns his lens to fertile grounds closer to home with his new book, ISLAND.
For the book, he teamed up with Ramsgate poet Sarah Tait, who grew up in Cliftonville on Athelstan Road where her parents owned a guest house.
What’s your connection to Thanet?
Mike: My longstanding interest in Thanet and family connections with this area led to this body of work. Support for the project from many people in Thanet who trusted me to photograph them and their lives has made this book possible.
Sarah: I love the island as a whole and it has always featured very strongly in my work. I'm a beach-walker, history enthusiast and a full-time carer for my partner who is physically disabled; I spend lots of time exploring all parts of Thanet. Of course, I have a fondness for Margate and consider myself as lucky to have spent my childhood and teenage years there.
What are you currently working on?
Mike: Self-publishing ISLAND has been quite an intense process together with putting on an exhibition of a selection of these images at Sugar Rush in Ramsgate. I’m also completing a book of family history and scanning my photographic archive.
Sarah: I will be spending the autumn and winter working on completing a project I began in 2017 — exploring and celebrating the life of Jane Pugin, Augustus Pugin's widow in in poetry.
It will be the 200th anniversary of her birth next year so I am planning events to celebrate the amazing courage and fortitude of this strong charismatic woman who, in her old age, was known as The Grand Old Lady of Ramsgate.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Mike: As a photographer, I find my inspiration in both rich and varied coastal and urban landscapes and the diverse communities that make up this special place.
Sarah: Everywhere in Thanet inspires me. It’s about responding directly to place, and to records of a place’s past, present, and potential future.
There are many, many places in Thanet that resonate for me; that I return to again and again and that I feel I want to respond to in my work. With so much known history - and myth - and energy - associated with key places here on the isle of Thanet, inspiration is pretty much endless.
What are you looking forward to most about taking part at the Bookie?
Mike: I’m looking forward to meeting other authors and sharing our enthusiasm for creative projects!
Sarah: Sharing poems with a live audience and not just on the page is something I find really satisfying - and to be able to do this at an event that is also celebrating and sharing a variety of other writers will be a pleasure.
Mike and Sarah will appear in Margate Bookie as part of the Local Writers Showcase, on Tuesday, October 1 at The Margate School, and present their new book, ISLAND. Tickets £5. Book now.