Throughout this project, I will explore how Poplar and Blackwall is photographed using the subject "Connect". I am working within a group of four other students to find out how this terminology is explored in this south London borough.
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For our first recce shoot we mostly set out to find our bearings and find a feel for the place, find different places to shoot and what stood out to us. We started our shoot out in Allsaints, where we quickly realised there was a definite contrasting element of old and new between here and Canary Wharf, just south of us on a quick ten minuit train journey away. It had definite feels of London suburban, filled with red bricked buildings and concrete tower blocks. Dominated by busy traffic and people dressed completely different to the next. We quickly came to realise that there was a lot of opportunity to shoot architecture, street and maybe even portraits of willing pedestrians walking by.
At first however the formal inspiration was low as we ventured out more and more, not really knowing what to shoot or where to go. This translated into a slow first recce as we had no baring for the environment and nothing particularly caught our eye. Through this we looked online for different places to go in Poplar online and found the newer estates where not too far away.
A quick walk down towards the river, there was a definite change in surroundings on the way. Between Allsaints and the Themes there is the Exit to Blackwall tunnel, which intends a tunnel system under the motorway to get you to the other side. From emerging this subway system you are greeted with modern architecture and what seems to look as if there was a faster pace of life, simply by going underground for a few moments (the Alice in Wonderland effect?). The buildings and pavements boasted a cleaner feel, more expensive. With this, partnering its even more expensive neighbour Canary Wharf, high rise office blocks and apartment buildings, all shiny and new with their floor to ceiling glass walls towering above creating a whole new ora as compared to Allsaints. The people where different too. All dressed up in business suits and expensive 'Hype Ware', they never paused or stopped for a moment, just rushing to get to nowhere, never letting go of that all so important Starbucks cup.
Our first recce was simply a chance for us to find a feel for the area before we started our project, exploring what themes and ideas would come about by wandering around with our cameras. Through this quickly realised the vast contrasting elements between the few sections which make up of Poplar and Blackwall, comparing each environment to each other and researching more into how the connect.
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Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh is a Korean sculptor and installation artist. He mainly produces the concept of space and home living, creating giant recreational models of already existing structures in a skeletal design. His artwork isn't necessarily photography or film, however always keeps his own catalog system in photos, and has done this since the beginning of his time as an artist. This had given him a lot of practice in this field when he started arguably his biggest project to date, The Rain Hood Gardens.
Throughout 2017, demolition of the Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar started, and created a massive uproar with in the surrounding communities. Do Ho Suh rapidly decided to take it into his own hands by working with the V&A to produce a project to create awareness to the rest of London. He used 3D scanning technology to create a visual journey in which the camera pans through and around the building, showing the interior and its tenants along with the exterior before it disappeared under rubble.
The exhibition itself went on for about 20 minuets, it went through the buildings struggles as well as the residents who lived there. Do Ho Suh represented his own style into the project by going through the buildings story, from before the demolition started and the aftermath. Showing off its interior as represented by each person who lived there, what furniture they had and a cut through of each room throughout the building. The film was projected onto a wall expanding from wall too wall, floor to ceiling, and was exhibited just next to the main entrance hall to create awareness too as many people as possible.
Other Exhibitions at the V&A shown above.
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His work inspired in such a way that we decided to go to the remainder building soon after leaving the V&A. As we arrived, we could see the construction of what ever building would replace the already demolished Robin Hood Gardens west building, however the East building was still standing strong. As we approached we where in awe of how much bigger the building turned out to be, as opposed to how big we imagined it in the Do Ho Suh film. It was almost like a wall between the modern esc era from New Providence and Allsaints, dividing them apart. The building stood tall dressed in the orange sunset glow reflecting from its 70's architectural design.
The further we explored the site, we noticed that the current residents where coming in and out of a side door of the East building, and as we investigated more so we where introduced by a maze of bohemian interior and architectural design. With large grided windows and shag-rock walls spiralling up the 9 floors, it felt desolate and abandoned already. The stair lights off and with only the one window on each flight of stairs, the lack of natural light caused the effect to be greater than before.
As we emerged to the top floor, we quickly realised to true contrast between the new and the old. The city scape and skyline was dominated by newly built infrastructures, glaring light down by its high rise glass walls down to the small towns below. With these new building we wanted to explore the devastation of these new builds in contrast with their mass appeal.
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Behind the Gradient Design...
We based our project ideals on the rise and fall of the modernisation throughout London and how the environmental factors play through this. We decided to create a gradient concept to show the different living situations through a single layered view, stereotyping the industry in Poplar and Black-wool. We are showing that the older architecture has been neglected, whereas the new high-rises are the 'clearer' option to press forward. However this is a more pollutant method of infrastructure to replace the old with the new, therefore constructing the lighting effect we are presenting our photos as. Having the leading line going from bottom right to top left, gradually moving through the different generations of architecture, flowing through a dark to light design, with the older buildings and environments at the bottom, the newer at the top.
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The photos shown above are the final images chosen to represent the gradient design by the rest of my group. We have chosen to decide on 6 total images, one being larger than the rest, as our main photograph in which we think describes our brief as well as possible.
These images will then be filtered down so they can be used in the final piece in the gallery. This so all of our photos fit the brief properly and to make sure that we all have an unbiased amount of photos throughout.
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We had the chance to submit our final photos on to the Ravensbourne media instagram. This was so we could boost promotion towards our exhibition. The final outcome of this was so each group had a 'sneak peak' of their own work out on media. We all where given a set day and time to post, as well as suggested hashtags to piece with our post. Overall it worked well as the unpaid promotion sparked up around the uni, generating advertisement for us.
The pictures shown above are from my final recce trip to poplar. I had ticked most of the items on my list for my project, however I still needed to explore more into the transportation aspect. Research and compare how different living environments travel around London.
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In conclusion for this project, the meaning and planing behind it was to explain and explore how the modernisation of London is masked behind the fact that we are taught that new is better. However through the process of researching into this environment, we quickly found out that this notion wasn't true. This was because we had found out the true devastation caused through this process, the people being evicted, the housing prices sky rocketing, the segregation of two cultures in the same town.
As we explored more into the different environments, we found out that this is happening throughout the entirety of London, connecting issues through a city wide scale.
Although people are making money through this process, literally cleaning cleaning the street, and inviting in a whole new culture of life, the older substandards are left in the dark. These small changes are happening at a rid scale now also, with little by little, new project coming in, the change begins to increase rapidly, no longer creating small problems in the original communities. With the new High-rises being built, the more expensive cultures follow. This creates a problem for the tenants who live there already as this is changing their home. Changing their way of life.
This creates a diversification so prominent that peoples living situations no longer mix, the different environments have embodied a metaphorical border between the two, in which being New Providence Wharf. As soon as you enter you are surrounded by a millionaires lifestyle, which becomes prominent when you see the cars, clothes and city-scape surrounding, living in its own bubble, increasing with size swallowing anything up not built in this century. Robin Hood Gardens acting as an example of this.
As so fourth, this problem will only grow if not brought up to a massive extent, instead of spending the money on creating a newer 'looking' city, the government should invest in the one they already have, renovating the brutalist architecture London boasts through and through out. Creating nicer living environments for the people who already live there, repaving roads, fixing up empty buildings and introducing a more modern lifestyle which works for both parties, not just removing one to make space for another.
