Splitting Paint, Pale Blue

The rust on these steel handrails had cut and bubbled the odd, pale-blue paint as though it had been burnt; singed yellow and crisp brown split to reveal charcoal black. It was like there was an invisible, slow fire-ball ripping from the hollow insides of the pipe.

There were three layers of handrail – I stacked them together with a telephoto lens into what resembled the design of a flag. I like the two simple, coloured stripes caging the diseased, damaged part. It is like a quarantine, as though there is a fear that the mysterious disease that eats the metal might spread.