‘I’ve almost had car accidents driving down roads staring at knockers’

Bristol’s brightly coloured houses and their equally cheerful doors have long been prime Instagram fodder for anyone roaming the streets with a camera and an eye for a bright colour.

You’d be hard-pushed to find anyone who does it better than Jess Siggers, aka @porthjess,  while photographs of homes that ooze with curb appeal have been tagged with #bristoldoors almost 3,000 times. Its accompanying account, @bristoldoors, is a pastel delight carefully curated by photographer Suzie Smith.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlHwiKVhiSx/?taken-by=porthjess

Jess Zausmer, who grew up in Zimbabwe but has lived in Bristol for three years, is a relative newcomer to this community. She is a teacher and organiser of Afrika Eye Film Festival, but in her spare time pounds the streets on the hunt for interesting door knockers, of which, it transpires, Bristol has many.

Her account, @knockers_of_bristol, has begun to gather a following for its carefully curated feed of Bristol’s door knockers in all shapes and sizes, along with punny captions.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be20GHwl2Ew/?taken-by=knockers_of_bristol

“I had a friend visiting from Sydney and I took her out to see Bristol,” Jess says of the first time she became aware of Bristol’s knock-out knockers.

“When you’re walking around as a visitor you have time to notice everything, and when we walked through St Werburgh’s we kept spotting these super cute little knockers.

“We joked about setting up #knockersofBristol and as we both have big boobs it was particularly funny.

“As I kid I was obsessed with number plates. When I notice something, I really notice it, and I started to get super obsessed with door knockers and took lots of pictures. I thought, ‘surely there’s a finite number of them in Bristol?’ but so far they just keep coming.

“St Werburgh’s is a hotbed, and Totterdown has some. I’ve almost had car accidents driving down roads and staring at knockers.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkkbk5OnO2t/?taken-by=knockers_of_bristol

So what is it about door knockers that Jess finds so fascinating?

“A good knocker is really inviting,” she says. “I don’t know who lives in these houses with nice knockers but I think it’s a sign that they see themselves as part of a community and have invested in their home. It’s a luxury to think about the finishing touches of your own home and your own front door – a very white, middle-class sense of home.

“You’re instantly charmed by a door that is different, and a knocker is an invitation; it’s intended to be used so you can go into that home. It’s a fun thing to use to announce yourself. I find a door with no knocker very cold: it makes me wonder whether they really want me to coming into their home.

“And if there’s no knocker and a spy hole” – Jess makes a face and takes a sharp breath – “suspicion and fear live here!” she laughs.

“In our individualistic culture, I need help with boundaries and to know whether I’m welcome. The knocker helps me know that. In the West, we like being distinctive. When you live in long rows of terraced houses like in Bristol, you have to find ways of making your mark of individuality in acceptable ways.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkzky1Yhebg/?taken-by=knockers_of_bristol

Recent trips out of Bristol have shown Jess that Bristol has many more door knockers than other cities. In Edinburgh, for example, she was struck by the lack of them. “I think Bristol has lots of knockers because it doesn’t take itself too seriously,” Jess says.

“I’d never thought about it before this obsession, but for me Bristol is a homely place, and a nice knocker is the cherry on the cake. Bristol is into it’s quirky stuff and street art, and knockers are an extension of that: an expression of the person who lives there.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjAvsUKHu1F/?taken-by=knockers_of_bristol

While other Instagram accounts take the craft very seriously, Jess is keen to enjoy the lighter side of social media.

“I’ve got a couple of spin-offs planned,” she says with a completely straight face. “I’m taking pictures of all the birds in Arnos Vale and calling it ‘Tits of Totterdown’, plus once I found a squeezy hooter attached to a door, so I can do ‘Hooters of Bristol’ too.

“My friends joke that I’m going to turn this into a GCSE art piece about finding my sense of home.”

See more of Jess’ knockers on Instagram at www.instagram.com/knockers_of_bristol