Boxes
Boy carrying box, Whitechapel 1985.
Boy carrying box, Chittagong 2008
Boy carrying box, Brick Lane 1988
On the move
City man using a mobile phone, 2007
What do the two men in these photographs have in common? They are both on the move and using a mobile. Which one has the most fulfilling life?
Man with mobile phone. Bangladesh 2009
Fashion Street
Walking down Fashion Street, 1993
This family are walking past the former ‘Moorish Market’ designed and built in 1905 by entrepreneurs Abraham and Woolf Davis as a retail arcade in an unusual oriental style, with horseshoe arches. It was a commercial failure and changed to industrial use in 1909. It was empty and in disrepair for many years and was restored in 2003 for business use.
Woman walking into Fashion Street from Brick Lane, 1983
Woman walking past a wall covered in graffiti, Fashion Street 2008
Youth on Fashion Street, 2010
Woman with trolley walking down Fashion Street, 2010
Brick Lane Madonna
Abandoned religious picture. Brick Lane 2011.
This devotional picture appears to have been imprisoned behind the bars of a window in Truman’s Brewery on Brick Lane. The image made me think of different women I had photographed on Brick Lane over thirty years who I would describe as having the qualities of a ‘Madonna’. Having been brought up a Catholic I am obviously aware of the religious connotations of this word. Naturally I have abandoned all Catholic beliefs so for me the word Madonna speaks of a special woman who has grace, fortitude and a natural unassuming charisma. The women below are my Brick Lane Madonnas.
Woman in head scarf, Brick Lane 1984
Lady on Brick Lane bridge, 1983
Lady on Brick Lane bridge, 1983
Lady in launderette, Brick Lane 1982
Woman on Brick Lane, 2002
Mother and daughter on Brick Lane, 2003
Brick Lane head
Brick Lane poster with man carrying bag, 2002
This image (above) appealed to me as the posters on the wall strangely complete the composition. Its as if the missing head has been restored by the posters. Once fly posters are up they can undergo an interesting transformation. They develop as a kind of street collage through the addition of other posters (below) and the deliberate intervention of passers buy. They are a transient and spontaneous public art.
Brick Lane poster collage, 2002
