photocultures

Site-specific photographic projects for Elephant & Castle. Thinking of ways to improve people’s lives and rescue the space and its users from the urban troubles it is facing now: the re-settlement of the council estate residents, the loneliness of the urban dwellers, the homelessness of street beggars, the ugliness of the crossroads, the high pollution levels, the dehumanising architectural features, the controversial shopping centre… Together the photocultures research group explored how photography can be used as a bridge between the public history of a place and the urban future of the city. Using utopian services and scenarios, the group examined photo-participatory practices as models of engagement with the social and the communities.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/msdm/sets/72157594433655322/show/

projects

Alan Atkinson: Wild Life
Alan re-populated the green spaces of the Elephant and Castle traffic islands with images of native British wild animals. He used images of wild rabbits, green woodpeckers and badgers. Full scale images of the animals, originally photographed elsewhere, were mounted upon foamboard and installed in realistic settings using the available natural cover of the roundabout.
http://pheasantscroft.blogspot.com

Jenny Brannigan: There’s a Hip Elephant but No One is Talking about it.
As the regeneration of Elephant and Castle moves closer, more and more people are becoming wary of what the end result will be. Jenny decided to propose a campaign using flyers and badges as her artistic and photographic way of intervening in the matter. Her intention was to document the reaction of the public in the area through handing out and posting up flyers with a positive outlook on the upcoming area and perhaps spark an interest in the people on how it can be improved or even how they themselves could help improve it.
To find out more follow the link to her blogs:
http://brannigj.blogspot.com/
http://badge-it.blogspot.com/
http://flypost-it.blogspot.com

John Brown: paradise lost
Paradise Lost consists in creating a paradox of environments to remind people who cannot escape this urban world that there is another. Spatial awareness is provoked through the sculpting of a sand castle, evoking an opposition to the urban space they become so anesthetised to. The image of the beach refers the Situationists quote “Under every pavement, the beach.” Project’s blog:
http://john-photographic.blogspot.com

Peter Darch: elephantandcastlemap.co.uk
elephantandcastlemap.co.uk is designed to make users more aware of the space around them. Elephant and castle is an area with an incredible depth of history it is the home of two universities, many businesses and a multitude of cultures. Yet it is often approximated to some ugly flats and a large roundabout. This inadequate view of the area is challenged with the map, highlighting, as it does, a range of culture available now and the plans for the area in the future. The map is not supposed for helping you get around (in fact Peter is an advocate for getting lost) but to make you look twice at things and put you in the right direction to learn more about the area should you wish to do so. Please feel free to add your pictures to the Flickr group (membership is free) and leave any comments at the email link provided on the homepage or at the blog http://peterdarch.wordpress.com

Sandra Mandiot: under sousveillance
An intervention combinining two concepts: drifting and sousveilance. When walking through elephant and castle sandra realised her drifting was observed and mapped through CCTV cameras wherever she went. In a gesture of sousveillance she decided to map the CCTVs herself in a flickr account and make a film of her movement.
http://driftinthecity.blogspot.com

Ala Sokolowska and Jennie Rosberg: Elephant Story Project
Ala and Jennie’s intention was to document the attitude of the local businesses to the planned regeneration of the area. They chose to focus on the Elephant and Castle shopping centre because it is home to a variety of small businesses that now face an uncertain future due to its planned demolition. The work- consisting of photographs and audio recordings – is installed in Tlon Books in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. More information can be found on:
http://yourelephantstory.blogspot.com
http://jerophotos.blogspot.com
http://photographica-ownspace.blogspot.com

Minette du Plessis: food for thought
Cultural diversity can enrich a community by creating variety in language, food, art, tradition and beliefs. However, there are people who oppose cultural diversity because they feel their own culture or identity is being threatened. Minette’s strategy of intervening was to make the community aware of the benefits of living in such a diverse society, by making them consider the ways in which our lives are enhanced as a result of multiculturalism. She approached this tactic via producing a site-specific photo installation showing images of raw food. She started out by taking close-up photographs of raw food around the East Street market area (as it’s considered extremely popular by the community for buying fresh food). Later she transformed herself into an installation, thus becoming a performing box. For more information and a short movie of her intervention, follow the link. http://web.mac.com/minetteduplessis/iWeb/Site/blog/blog.htm

Jens Poloczek: elephant new castle
An intervention based on the stencil technique. Sending out a message with an image and therefore changing the space and also re-conditioning the situation. “Elephant New Castle” holds a young elephant behind a bar code. The bar code is iconic for the commercial value and is jen’s interpretation of the new age from this side of town. The aim is to raise the awareness of the effects of the Elephant & Castle redevelopment. http://elephantnewcastle.blogspot.com/

.