estate of mind

I was inspired to conduct this photoshoot after a conversation that I had with a friend from Wales. She had never been to London and told me how she would love to visit me and roam around London. She believed that all areas of London were as affluential as the City of London. I started to explain to her that not everywhere in London is as affluential as the city. I have moved eight times so far in my life to areas such as Plaistow, East Ham, Manor Park, Barking and Dagenham and none of these places compare to the city in terms of affluence. In fact, for the most part, the places that I have lived have largely been impoverished neighbourhoods, disparaged by both those who live and do not live there. The youth who live in these areas often resort to crime in order to get enough money to live the lives of those in the city. Some succeed, while others end up in jail or dead. When I explained to my friend that all is not what it seems and that life in Greater London is often far from great, she was surprised. Living in Wales, the only London she had ever heard about, was the City of London. The London that extrudes affluence, the London where the Queen resides, the ­London with the pretty, bright lights and world-famous sites.­ She did not know that London also encompasses the harsher areas surrounding the city and upon me informing her about life in Greater London she jokingly said that she did not want to visit anymore, however, I believe that there was probably some truth in what she said too. This conversation made me realise how people can have distorted views of places that they’ve never been before. If you live in London, and watch the news or read the local newspaper for your borough, you’ll hear about police raids on corrupt council estates and about the stabbings that take place however if you live outside of London, let alone in another country, you’ll seldom hear about these kind of things. The only London the media will ever portray to you is the nice, city kind. I believe that this is also the same reason why people often see Africa as being synonymous with the Third World and famine. I have been to Ghana, and stayed in the village and know that this is not the case, however for many going to Africa is not on their to-do list and so they’ll never see the Africa that I’ve seen. They’ll only ever see the Africa that the media portrays to them through the charities asking for aid for starving children. This whole idea of the distortion of perception lead me to conduct this photo-shoot as my theme is ‘Distortion: Sense of Reality’. I decided to use the nearby Gascoigne Estate as the place for the photo-shoot as for many who have grown up in Barking and Dagenham, this estate is a place that is synonymous with violence and crime, much like the Goresbrook Village Estate. In this photo-shoot, I wanted to showcase the bleak and dreary side to London that those who live outside of it seldom see. However, I also wanted to shed some positivity by showing that even in these types of surroundings, beauty can still be found.