Me and my kickstarter, selling prints of my hometown, my capital city, my london
This photograph is actually a lie. A total fabrication. These two guys were actually extras on a film shoot in Notting Hill and you are in fact looking at part of the street they constructed to look like the 60s. I can’t remember the name of the film but it was something like Hanky Panky or Hunky Dory or maybe even Hippy Dippy. Definitely an ‘H’ word. The film never came out as far as I am aware. Although without being able to recall the title its possible I wouldn’t have known even if it had done. I did just look up the Who gig that is featured in the poster behind them and it was from 1965 so at least we know when it was set.
There is a certain stillness to this picture, as if they are literally suspended in time. And in some ways they are. This area in the 60s was virtually a slum, the polar opposite of its current posh status. No-one who lived there then could have possibly imagined that their downmarket area would transform into this extremely wealthy location. Most of the residents of that era moved here because they couldn’t afford to go anywhere else. This photograph for me is the closest I can get to time travel, to get a glimpse of what it must have been like and also serves as a reminder us that we really have no idea what will happen in the future because they also had no idea in the past where we would end up today. London has transformed immeasurably in the last 10 years but if you look back through history you see that there is no permanency – everything is in flux, nothing ever stays the same. I take solace in this as it means that whatever is happening now, it will be most certainly be totally transformed in the next evolution of this ever-changing city.
Tally so far: 47 backers and am approaching two thirds of way to my kickstarter goal with just 14 days to go…please click on this link to order one and free the jpeg today! https://tinyurl.com/ya43j8bw