Assignment 5: Making it up

For my final assignment, I have chosen to create a set of images around the concept of gentrification, quite prevalent in Britain’s more trendy cities such as London, Brighton and Manchester. The links between gentrification, displacement and homelessness are devastating for many residents.

Dan Hancox, having visited some of London’s victims of gentrification, speaks of London residents who are forced out to the cheaper surrounding counties. Those most at risk are tenants in need of social housing, who risk being moved as far as Newcastle, under the threat of being declared intentionally homeless.

Inspired by some creative solutions to living more cheaply, I chose to create a mock-up living space, using volunteers to produce a set of over exaggerated home life situations. Rebecca Solnit compares gentrification in San Francisco to climate change:

“Contemporary gentrification is an often violent process by which a complex and diverse urban environment becomes more homogeneous and exclusionary. It does to neighbourhoods and cities what climate change is doing to the earth: driving out fragile and deeply rooted species, and pushing the poor past the brink.” (Solnit R. 2016)

As gentrification uproots people from their home environment, climate change is capable of destroying the homes of people, plants and animals alike. The poor suffer while rich, global organisations trading in fossil fuels or property development prosper. I felt it fitting to use a location that has recently suffered at the hands of climate change as the setting for this project.

I used models, outfits and props to create a homely scene in the caves created by flood defences on Spurn Point, a thin peninsula separating the Humber Estuary from the North Sea. A sense of the strong, northern working class runs through the scene, backed by the affluence of the city they have been forced to leave.

Evaluation

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Spurn Point is a four mile long, thin strip of land separating the North Sea and the Humber Estuary. Due to recent flooding, part of this wild and varied nature reserve has collapsed, making parts of it only accessible at low tide. Tidal defences in the form of large chunks of concrete and stone, lean on each other to form tiny caves. I chose to use this location to represent the general decline to local neighbourhoods.

In order to set up this shoot, several things had to be considered. The most vital aspect was to study the tidal calendar as the location I had chosen is totally inaccessible at high tide, and pools of water remain for a few hours after. The weather was also important, as, although we were all happy to work in most weathers, a heavy rainfall would have made the caves too flooded to work in.

 Having chosen two potential weekends, I put out a request through social media, getting a good response from some keen volunteers, quite excited about creating characters and providing props.

The tide tables gave a window between 9am and 3pm for our shoot. Avoiding midday sun, I chose to shoot in the morning, as the light would be shining into the caves; by mid afternoon, the sun would have moved behind the caves, creating too much shade for a successful shoot. The chosen day, being warm and cloudy provided filtered lighting for the shoot. The chosen day provided pale grey skies, providing filtered lighting for the shoot.

With the help of the filtered lighting, I have managed to create balanced lighting both for the people in the cave and those outside. I had hoped that the cave would be dark enough to create a glow from the electronic tablet, however I underestimated the power of the sunlight, even in a darkened cave. Shooting with the sun behind the cave may have rectified this, however it would have created unwanted shadows in the foreground. The models are well spaced around the image and the eye lines of the two higher models follow that of the landscape, further separating their world from the city scene.

Quality of outcome

I have used a low perspective for this shoot to connote a sense of power and worth in the face of adversity. The blustery day and number of models, including a baby led to some difficulty getting everything right within one shot. The five images below were merged in order to create the best possible representation of each character.

Jenny (washing): outfit gives a sense of a strong, working class woman, reflected in pose, powerful and strong, determined facial expression, hinting at hope for the future.

Meg (bath): interacting with Jordan (laptop), in other images where Meg had been looking outwards, it left Jordan isolated and not a part of the group.

Jordan (laptop): Looking towards Meg and laughing, bringing happiness to the scene despite their circumstances. I am a little disappointed with Jordan’s positioning, however the difficulties we experienced placing two characters in such a confined space was quite fitting to the project.

Amber (reading): Amber was also the second prop for the washing line, the end tied to the back of her jeans. While hidden away by her bedding, the line of the washing and her body create flow through the image. I chose this version of Amber because although she was reading, the slight smirk and sideways glance connect her to the rest of the scene. I am disappointed that the title of the book, ‘501 Must Visit Natural Wonders’ is not visible in the scene; the book in this scenario could quite easily be retitled, ‘Property Guide for the Gentrified’.

  

Kelly & Esme: Although we had used Esme’s highchair in the individual shots, she had grown tired and hungry by this point and was ready for a feed. Kelly sitting to breastfeed has given more balance to the image physically and also fits with the natural setting. Because of Esme’s head position, it is not immediately clear that she is feeding but the interaction between mother and daughter enhances the feeling of closeness and family.  

The northern working class theme is reflected by the use of a tin bath and TV guide featuring Coronation Street characters. In some of the individual images I used an electric lamp as well as the Internet tablet prompting the viewer to question how these items are powered; the tablet, although transient will need to be charged. This question in turn highlights the distance from civilisation as victims of gentrification are moved away from support networks built through friends, family and services. The tin bath and Internet tablet cross a generational divide, showing the traditional and the modern side by side.

The setting, being a fifteen-minute walk across sand from the nearest car parking spot limited the amount of props we could carry. I feel that the image may have been improved with a few toys scattered around Kelly and Esme or a hairdryer on the white rock but the image could have become very cluttered with too many more props.

The characters, on the surface appear happy with their lot but the difficulties can easily be seen; the rock hard bed, tiny tin bath and lack of electricity symbolise some of the discomfort experienced by the real victims of gentrification.

The completed scene was then backed with a typical London scene, taken on a trip to the capital earlier in the year. I chose this particular scene as it included the iconic Shard while the bridge allowed me to include people at a higher level, making the setup feel like a possible reality. The city is de-saturated to give a feeling of a memory, a life left behind, although I am somewhat worried that the vibrant cave scene compared to the grey backdrop gives the impression that gentrification is a positive movement.

Demonstration of creativity

After a few failed attempts at creating a narrative for this assignment, the idea came to me while editing family photographs shot on Spurn Point.

The concept immediately felt right as ideas came flooding through about how to create my intended narrative on such an important and current issue. Knowing the setting fairly well, I hoped that we could fit all of the characters into one scene but was not entirely sure how well it would until everyone was in place. The individual images were taken initially as a backup plan and also to relax models into the shoot before creating the final, combined image. I feel that the humour and vibrancy expressed in the image separate it from other work on the subject.

Context

I feel that this assignment is a culmination of many of the technical and artistic skills I have developed over the last two years. Inspiration for the scene set up came from Domenico Dolce’s ‘ITALIA IS LOVE!’ Campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, first seen during Dawn Woolley’s presentation at the Photography Matters symposium. The example shown brings together several small groups of people to create one combined scene; the young and beautiful taking selfies, playing guitar and eating real Italian home cooked spaghetti, thanks to the loving mother, the central figure of family life, shown at the centre of the scene. The image does not appear to be advertising a brand but a lifestyle, for the young, beautiful, caring and creative. I have aimed to emulate the idea of combining several different but connected activities in my setup.

Costumes and props were used to create a homely scene in and around the caves and a group of volunteers played the parts of my chosen characters. The idea of bringing the indoors out is a reversal of Marja Pirilä’s Camera Obscura and Gregory Crewdson’s images in which the outdoors is brought in.

   

   

The matriarchal character far left has a look of the strong northern women featured in early episodes of Coronation Street, also seen in wartime art, such as the “We Can Do It!" propaganda poster produced by Howard J. Miller in 1943.

John Berger discusses traditional ‘genre’ painting by masters such as Hals, showing the poor smiling, showing teeth, something never shown in paintings of the rich. In 17^th century Europe, broad smiles were connected to the poor, the drunk and those in entertainment. The natural, happy faces of my models represent the lower class. Jenny’s outfit brings the most obvious representation of the working class, however her expression and upward gaze hint at a better way of life.

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