Like a migrant flock that has descended on the city to graze for a time, cranes are a marvel in their own right. But like many things in life they are temporal, and their moment warrants recording.

Having always been fascinated with cranes it became instinctive to paint them in Liverpool, where historically they have already been iconic with the identity of Liverpool’s docks. They are symbols of creativity, production and man’s ingenuity, which has continually been a subject I come back to in my work. Liverpool is in a moment of transition, as it undergoes huge change both physically and in its identity. Although cities like nature are never static, there are periods when change is more dominant and new expressions of ‘capital’ typical to the time occur. Whether this is in the 18th Century when the early Councillors invested in the innovative docks that helped make Liverpool the proud second city of Empire. Or today when we have the largest retail led city redevelopment in Europe headed by Grosvenor. This is one of many development sites that collectively are ‘rebranding’ the city as a cultural (2008 Capital of Culture), retail and tourist destination. Whether you agree with these expressions of capital and shifts in the cities identity or not, they will always be a part of the social, economic and political life of a city.

My work is also inspired by the photographers Bernard and Hilla Bercher, who have spent their life together photographing the unintended beauty that can be found in industrial structures. There is also a link with the tradition of Record Photographers, who were the anonymous commercial photographers commissioned to record both great and everyday industrial and civic projects. Most industries would maintain a photographic record of their operations, partly as technical archive and partly for commemorative or promotional purposes.

Similarly to the Berchers I am concerned with constructions made by engineers, whose plans are pragmatic and where function dictates the form, rather than the other way round. In Bernard Bercher’s words, ‘there is a form of architecture that consists in essence of apparatus, that has nothing to do with design, and nothing to do with architecture either. They are engineering constructions with their own aesthetic’. This ‘nomadic architecture’ of cranes epitomises this and adds in my eyes the most playful and inspiring structures to the physical fabric of a city. The cranes are a compositional challenge, always moving yet also adaptable. But quite simply I have a happiness feeling them silently and elegantly circling over my head, and am exhilarated when I see a group grazing graciously over the city. I agree with Willem De Kooning who spoke about the artist walking in the landscape of their own making. My landscape simply is a delight in cranes and Liverpool.

- Cecilia Matson 2007