NO PHOTOGRAPHY TO CELEBRATE

I have been trying in the last year to find some platform to celebrate and exhibit 10 years of Photography in the East End. I have had a potential offer from the Tower Hamlet Archives but I didn't dig that option further for various reasons. I was also in touch with a very nice curator at the Museum of London but the Museum being in the midst of a transition with new facilities by the Smithfield Market didn't make it easy. And obviously on top of all that we had the Covid situation back then. 

2022 seems different so let's cross our fingers and try new applications.

I just received some feedback from the Queen Elizabeth Park which makes me smile,...

Dear David

 

Thank you for the email. Our venues are busy this year and we have not scheduled any public space for photography exhibitions on the Park. However if you do go ahead with an exhibition in the area please drop us a line and we can see if it is appropriate to promote across any of our channels.

 

All the best,

 

 

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: a dynamic new metropolitan centre for London

For more information please visit www.QueenElizabethOlympicPark.co.uk

NEW DOME?

From BBC website today

POPLAR MARCH 22

Legends

Yellow: area regenerated with Olympics

Blue: brand new constructions

Red: areas to be flattened with building plans

Pink: areas under construction

Light green: areas on hold with current initiatives but most likely to disappear

Deep green: area/building in limbo most likely to be regenerated

Beautiful Spring day out. Walking a loop from All Saints DLR station to Langdon Park station. Western part of the A12 is quite dense, mix of old/semi old architectures with arrival of brand new developments (usual middle-rise bricks cardboard look like) One iconic part of the brutalist Robin Hood estate is still standing but not for long. 

Naval Row is an interesting part of Poplar. Almost standing above the Blackwall Tunnel, squeezed between the A1261 and the University of West of Scotland, it transports you not only into a standardised vision of the East End but most importantly it takes you back in time. This whole area will disappeared very soon.

The University Campus is merged with the Telehouse London Data Centre. Very strange area, mix of students, builders and security firm officers. It almost looks like a Robocop film set.

I am now North of the East India Dock Road. The whole section from A13 to A12 has been revamped with the new buildings along the main road.

I am now following the River Lea by the Bow Creek area at a distance as there is no access to it. Vast new development called Aberfeldy Village under construction (see previous post about Leaway) I cannot see the building site from that side of the river but I can witness the new elevations. Same as Hackney Wick, Silvertown, etc...

I am approaching the A12 and there is a medley of scripts. One area by the A12 must have been annexed by some locals for allotments. One large plot where must-be concept boarded-up low rise studios is abandoned and rotting away. An industrial estate has vanished and new luxury apartments are coming.

I am crossing the A12 and am walking toward Langdon Park station. The atmosphere is more settle on that side. Older council estates are still standing with Balfron Tower in the distance. There is a sense of community I can feel and some old landmarks are kept and maintained which is refreshing. 

I am entering Langdon Park and there is a lot of activity. It's buzzing with young creatives, schools, students, asian and muslim communities, middle-aged men doing their gym bare chest outdoor with free apparatus at disposal, dog walkers, teenagers, etc...The decor looks un-natural and too futuristic to my taste. The digital world dogma seems to fit perfectly here but that doesn't seem to bother the locals who still interact with each other.

 

BECKTON SOUTH JAN.22

Map: RED new developments, CORAL land in waiting

My recent walk took me on the North side of the Royal Albert Dock. Left the DLR at Prince Regent and made my way Eastbound towards Gallions Reach. The walk is very pleasant, very linear or flat I would say. You have great views South across the Dock as you witness the previous Silvertown captures growing. But here on the Northern part of the Dock the new constructions remain quite low in comparison. That is certainly due to its proximity with the airport. As you pass the Connaught Bridge you notice few new blocks which are all budget hotels or AirBnB accommodations, just another corner of soulless concrete.

You pass the Albert Dock DLR station and then appears a new landscape behind the London Ambulance Dockside Education building. A vast perimeter informs us of the "next London Business district!" Most of it is empty and awaiting. Only a fraction has been built in a grey sober fashion next to Beckton Park station. Two vast mansions have been kept by the station with all their windows covered with protective fake window panelling. The effect is striking and spooky but I love it. Then a vast empty space distances this newly built area with the University of East London.

I walk under the Sir Steve Redgrave Bridge and access the most Eastern part of that Thames bend. It is impossible to go further East following the river as the Docklands Light Railway Depot is followed by Gas Works, then Business and Shopping Park, then followed by Sewage Treatment Works and finally by the mouth of the river Roding. So we are now reaching some kind of Land's End. But nevertheless this is the perfect opportunity for developers to create a whole new district. When I last walked this area only few constructions appeared of the roads flanks and in its far corner. Today a whole new small town is being built. Again the new blocks are not as tall as the ones in Riverscape developments but taller than the ones by the Dock. 

What strikes me thought having photographed the East end for the last 12 years is how the developers decide architectural design ahead. As we approached the Olympics we were still in the midst of the financial crisis, so most of the developers went for cheap colourful panelings. In the last few years the new trend is the low rise rabbit cage like covered in "traditional" brick outer skin. This new Royal Albert Wharf takes it to another level! If you wish to create a catalogue a coloured bricks this is the place to go. Every single block has a different colour or coating or mix of shades. There is a real attempt to bring joy but I am not really sure if its magic works.

At Gallions Reach station I have a snack watching the cranes dancing. I then walk my way up to Beckton Bus station when my journey ends for today. Good walk!