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Cranes

January 3, 2011
Cranes in Whitechapel

Cranes in Whitechapel, 2004

Cranes are harbingers of change. They puncture the view of London from my flat. Its a view that is constantly changing.  Cranes signal a new building often following the demolition of an old one. The slender beauty of these cranes was replaced by a new hospital which obliterated the view of Canary Wharf.

Cranes over Spitalfields market

Cranes over Spitalfields market, 2002

These cranes towering over Spitalfields market announce the march of City developers into the East End.

Sun rising from the East, 2005

Sun rising from the East, 2005

London Hospital construction

Construction of the new London Hospital 2005

Cranes over the London hospital

Cranes over the London hospital, 2005

Beggars

January 1, 2011
Begging at Aldgate East Station

Begging at Aldgate East Station, 1984

This lady was a regular feature at the entrance to Aldgate East tube station. In this position she could get the attention of passengers leaving and entering the station.

Lady begging in Whitechapel

Lady begging in Whitechapel, 1986

This lady was photographed outside the entrance to newsagents on Whitechapel Rd. The sad boys head is meant to illicit money for the ‘Spastics society’.

Children begging in Dhaka, 2009

Children begging in Dhaka, 2009

These children live a precarious life on the streets of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Begging from motorists is learnt at an early age.

Kay Jordan

December 30, 2010
Kay Jordan

Kay Jordan

Kay Jordan was a tireless campaigner for small businesses and social enterprises in the Spitalfields area. More than anyone she understood how rising property prices and the expansion of the City would threaten community based business initiatives. For decades she devoted herself to building and protecting social enterprise that addressed the needs of the local community.

Kay Jordan

Kay Jordan

As the Director of the Spitalfields Small Business Association she oversaw the refurbishment and development of over 62,000 square feet of derelict and underused buildings around Spitalfields. This SSBA initiative created over 100 new managed workspaces.

Kay Jordan

Kay Jordan

Kay always took the side of the underdog and was never impressed by the shiny rhetoric and money of big developers. Her intelligent and incisive attention to detail provided local residents and community organisations with a powerful advocacy in planning matters. Kay would cross swords with anyone to defend the interests of Spitalfields. Her principal weapons were the truth and integrity she deployed in her advocacy for the part of London she had grown to love.

Kay Jordan

Kay Jordan

These photographs of Kay were taken in 2004 in Paris. The visit was arranged to build links with community groups who were defending their area in the face of ‘regeneration’. Her untimely death has robbed Spitalfields of a selfless champion.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital

December 26, 2010
St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

A few years ago I was the photographer in residence at the Barts and the London NHS Trust. I was commissioned to provide fresh photographs of London for St Bartholomew’s and record the buildings which were to be pulled down as part of the building programme. I never expected I would return as a patient some years later. These images reflect a month long stay as a patient. For three of the weeks I was flat on my back and unable to move out of my bed. This imprisonment was made bearable by the wonderful staff who cared for me and the world I was able to photograph from my bed.

Being shaved by Hazuan

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

A nurses hand

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

These telephone masts viewed through the window next to my bed became good friends after a few weeks.

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

St Bartholomew's Hospital 2010

Tony Blair as baby Jesus

December 25, 2010
Tony Blair as the baby Jesus, photomontage

Tony Blair as the baby Jesus, photomontage 2003

In 2003 I held an exhibition which launched Photomonth for that year called Comrades. Hosted at the Four Corners gallery it took a satirical look at the Labour government of the day. This photomontage uses a Hungarian painting of the Virgin and Child with Tony Blair’s head.

Arrest of Tony Blair. Photomontage 2003.

Arrest of Tony Blair. Photomontage 2003.

This photomontage imagines Tony Blair as a peace protester being arrested close to the Houses of Parliament. I photographed the Labour  Party leadership extensively in the early 90’s for Labour Party news. The images I accrued through this work were the principle resource for the exhibition.

Tony Blair as Jesus

Tony Blair as Jesus. After Caravaggio 2003.

Here we  have the simple substitution of a Tony Blair head in Caravaggio’s masterpiece depicting the supper at Emmaus.

Torn fly poster with Brown, Blair and Cook, 2003

Torn fly poster with Brown, Blair and Cook, 2003

Tony Blair with the stars and stripes flag

Tony Blair as the President of the United States, 2003.

 Gordon Brown and Tony Blair on Brighton Pier

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair on Brighton Pier, 2003

 Tony Blair and John Prescott

Tony Blair and John Prescott at a Labour Party conference, early 1990's

The exhibition also included straight photographs of Labour politicians which were accompanied with quotes from the subjects.