In Brief
Starting October 1st 2025 I’ll be doing research into working class identity in Sunderland as part of a PhD studentship at Northumbria University. Aside from this exciting new challenge, I’m a writer, photographer, and documentary producer. After getting my degree in Film and Media at Sunderland university, I worked in the media industry for a while and then my partner and I set up in business as Lonely Tower Film & Media.
Writer, photographer, documentary producer…
As well as writing educational pieces about the visual practices of photography and video, I’m the author of three history books: Sunderland Industrial Giant (The History Press, 2017), Secret Sunderland (Amberley Publishing 2019), and Celebrating Sunderland (Amberley Publishing 2023).
You can find articles I’ve written about heritage, culture, and place in publications like This England (example above), The Northern Echo, and LandScape magazine.
I sometimes give talks about my work, either Sunderland history, photography, or all of it(!) like this one (below) for the 2024 International Women’s Day event at Bishop Auckland Town Hall.
More About Marie
Documentary films
We produce documentaries about history, place, and culture: a mix of self-produced feature length films, and commissioned films from history groups, councils etc for exhibition. They include
- Defiant – County Durham, The Miners’ Strike, and its Legacy (TBR 2025)
- Iron & Steam: The Dawn of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (2024)
- Hollowed Ground: The People of the Durham Coalfield. (2023)
- The Hetton Legacy: The Railway, Collieries and Community 1822 – 2022. (2022)
- A Passion for Vaux, Sunderland’s Lost Brewery. (2022)
We also create shorter pieces for social media, to capture events with a quick turnaround, or to tell smaller chunks of a larger story.
You can keep up with our latest film projects via our Lonely Tower Facebook page.
Exhibitions – Films & Soundscapes
March 2025 – Durham County Council – International Women’s Day Exhibition
As part of the exhibition Inspirational Women of Durham, I created a soundscape to accompany photographs of five inspirational County Durham women through history to present day. Called Through Her Time, this brought to life some of the voices and legacies of women who have shaped our region. Each voice reflects the complexity of women’s lives: from work, to family, to struggles. It’s not about idealising, and it’s not about over-simplifying or being tokenistic. It’s acknowledging the real, and quite often ignored things that shape our worlds. Whether that’s bold actions, a quiet strength, or everyday perseverance in the face of relentless inequality, we invite you to listen and reflect on what it is that makes a woman inspiring.
March 2024 – Durham County Council – International Women’s Day Exhibition – Bishop Auckland Town Hall
As part of the She Shall Be Called Woman exhibition for International Women’s Day on March 8th, I created a soundscape to accompany a photographic display by photographer Elaine Vizor. The soundscape demonstrates the complexity at play between individuals and the physical landscape they inhabit, shaping both the people and their environment. Featuring women’s voices and evocative music and environmental sounds, A Sense of Place is about 6 different women and their connection to the North Pennines, from a life-long connection as a visitor, to the daily joys and struggles of working the land.
2022 – Sunderland City Council – Pyrex 100 – Museum and Winter Gardens
To mark 100 years of Pyrex production in Sunderland, we were commissioned to make a short film about glass making in Sunderland, with a focus on Pyrex and its workers, using newly-conducted interviews, and archival resources like photo and video.
2018 – Sunderland City Council – Port 300 – Museum and Winter Gardens
We created a short film about the Port of Sunderland and its history, which was screened as part of a wider exhibition at Sunderland’s Museum and Winter Gardens.
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