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I’m trying, I’m trying!

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Statements from the streets this week as part of my ongoing series “R U Talkin to Me”. These ‘messages’ appear to me as we career towards this election in the U.K. Buzzwords abound as sound bites take precedence over facts and personalities are judged more than policies. And trust is at an all time low as we now live in this post truth age where everything can be bent to suit whoever chooses to do the bending.

And yet I feel its important to remember, as the sign above indicates, politicians have never told the truth. They say what they think will get them votes and they rarely fulfil their election promises so why should we ever listen to them? In the normal day to day you can pretty much discount anything a politician says but in the run up to an election? Forgeddaboudit..

And so with algorithm bubbles fuelling your feed and fakery lurking at every corner, who can you believe? The answer is yourself. Do your research, disseminate your information, question your sources, go beyond the mainstream media, investigate, and don’t just accept everything wholesale. Every pusher of news has an agenda. Every single media outlet is subjective to a degree so you must factor this in when absorbing the ‘facts’. The answers are all there, you just have to look. And think. And when you are in your next heated political argument passionately pushing your opinion with anger fuelled adamance, ask yourself this question…where did I get my information from?

This all might sound very cynical but you cannot afford to be just take things at face vaiue and it’s very hard not to look at our political system and feel its kinda broken. It’s not that there aren’t any politicians or parties worth voting for but the whole opposition 2 party politics feels very outdated and after recent experience, just doesn’t feel like a forward thinking solution. It feels like a dead end.

However, I think the vote is the most important thing we have and we have to use it and we have to use it. And use it wisely, even if its tactical. It might feel you are supporting something you are essentially against and perpetuating the people in power who are a problem but the vote is the only power we have.

There is a lot of use of the phrase ‘the lesser of evils’ these days and I subscribe to it. This system might be geriatric and in need of a major overhaul but there are definitely worse versions of it depending on who is at the helm.

In this day and age its more crucial to know what you are against than what you are for. And vote with your head, not your heart. Vote with information not instinct. Vote with facts not fear. But whatever you do, just vote. It ain’t much but it’s all we got.

If that is all a total brain drain please accept this soothing mattress message…with a sweetie on a stick thrown in for good measure…

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Several sightings in several days. Is the Prince of Denmark back? Is it some nod to their being something rotten in the borough of kensington and chelsea? Or a Shakespeare fan trying to illicit more reading of the classics? It doesn’t sound like a graffiti taggers name nor does the style look like it so what’s the deal? Am curious…will the real Hamlet please stand up?

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This scrawled statement puzzled me. I had no idea what this meant so I looked it up and apparently BUFF stands for Big Fat Ugly Fuck which is a pretty horrendous acronym. Who knew? Not me. But even with this information I still have no idea why someone would graffiti this? Why would they be trying to incite this? Do they feel they are part of this demographic and are trying to illicit some action? Or maybe they’re trying to encourage others to embark on carnal relations with people who fit this category out of some bizarre sense of civic duty?

Maybe this is a declaration of body positivity and a call to arms to reject the perfection peddled in advertising and on social media? Or maybe the author of this confusing statement had been harassed by members of this group  and was consequently expressing their anger and defiance towards them? I kind of wished I hadn’t looked it up.

I thought it was written by someone who didn’t like people being in the nude. This did seemed pretty random and made no real sense as you are mostly without clothes for the act they are suggesting  but I preferred this theory to the knowledge of the real meaning which is actually pretty hateful. Whoever did this clearly has issues but I am curious to what motivated them to bother in the first place. There is no artistic skill here, no purpose. It’s just a mess. And a nasty mess at that.

 

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london nights

..as excuses go, I guess its as good as any. Apathy might still be the dominant political force in this country for a good chunk of the population due to despondency and fatigue but the results of these council elections will give a good gage of which party is winning or losing the hearts and minds of its constituents. Britain is still teetering on the precipice of the Brexit cliff and like the referendum that caused it, the future of the country will be dictated by those who could be bothered to vote and the ones that didn’t will have to suffer the consequence. Although confidence in our elected representatives is possibly at an all time low in this country. Caught between choosing incompetence over malevolence is not much of a choice and  it boils down to maybe deciding who is slightly less of a self-serving c***.  Long live democracy!

Photos depicting mixed messages from the streets of London this week, all part of my ongoing series “r u talkin to me” so I will let them do the talking. All I would like to say is its good to be back…

 

 

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

 

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Nothing but positive messages and words of encouragement from the street this week…which are indeed rarities amidst the usual ‘everything’s fucked and totally shit’ statements normally scrawled across walls across the city. I do have to admit though, there is a part of me that finds positive messages irritating.  For example, even though I agree with the above statement I feel some irrational hostility towards overtly upbeat declarations. I know you’re just trying to help but it’s not really working…

All the shots this week are all part of my ongoing series “r u talkin’ to me” which explores the inward focus of our outward observations and makes us question our relationship with the world around us. Does the universe revolve around me? Is it trying to tell me something? Were these statements specifically designed for me to see? If so how is this even possible? And even if they were, will I take heed of this messages or ignore them? Am I the only one who thinks this way? Am I going to keep asking myself rhetorical questions?

 

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Ok, I’ve decided. I want it..where do I get it from?

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Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Following on from yesterday this seemed rather appropriate…