In_pictures In pictures: What Is Your London?

For seven weeks a group of young photographers aged between 18 and 24 took part in a workshop delivered by Create Jobs and Magnum Photos which asked them to produce pictures as a response to the question: What Is Your London?

They worked under the guidance of Magnum Photos associate Sohrab Hura as well as with the creative team at HudsonBec Group and alongside Emma Bowkett and Max Ferguson, who curated an exhibition of the work, entitled Please Mind the Flash.

Here’s a small selection of pictures from some of those who took part.

In_pictures Kevin Chemuka

Originally from north-west London, Kevin Chemuka recently moved to the east of the city – which has opened his eyes to the diverse friendship groups surrounding him.

“What lessons are your friendships teaching you? Are they good or bad?”

Chemuka believes that we are the products of our environment and the sum of the people closest to us.

Through his work he seeks to encourage these observations as a conversation between young men.

The series is called My Role Models and tells the story of four friends and what it means to be a positive male role model.

In_pictures Tishon Nicholson

The Inner Me is a personal project focusing on four generations of the artist’s family. Through their stories we learn how they deal with being Black Caribbean women in the UK.

Nicholson’s desire to document this history is driven by what she sees as the lack of representation within mainstream media. As an exploration of what has changed and what has remained the same, these untold stories are voiced.

In_pictures Gwen Datyner

For women living in any city, travelling home late at night can be daunting, leaving them with feelings of high anxiety. A recent YouGov survey suggested nearly 50% of women said they always, or often, felt unsafe walking alone at night.

As an artist, Gwen Datyner wanted to create staged narratives that would explore this fear. To begin with, Datyner asked women on her Instagram feed and family and friends to describe what they did when travelling alone at night, to gain a better understanding of the precautions these women take.

She exaggerated these responses to create visual fantasies, magnifying the feeling of anxiety and concern.

In_pictures Melissa Gardner

All Under One Roof Raving tells the story of London’s 2019 youth culture through nightlife, with a sharp focus on inclusivity.

While the documentation of music culture is at the core of this project, Gardner is keen to champion marginalised music communities.

Gardner shows us a small slice of the hedonistic unification found on a London dance floor on any given weekend.

With an intention to react against social media’s filtered documentation of life, this series aims to show our city at 02:00 through a totally non-sugar-coated lens.

In_pictures Faith Aylward

Until fairly recently, Faith didn’t consider herself a Londoner. She had a transient relationship with the city – often in and out, either staying there on holiday or when it served as a temporary home.

Through this project, Faith wanted to create the still images of a movie, as if her life was portrayed as one.

She has now lived here full-time for two years – years which have been full of intense self-discovery, experimentation, adventure and change for her.

This series is composed of constructed scenes depicting experiences she’s had and aspects of life here that she’s become familiar with. The work tells the story of how London, and the journey she has been on there, have shaped who she is today.

In_pictures Capella Buncher

Inspired by anger she feels at the way poor people are demonised in the British media, Buncher responded to the brief with a project that concentrates on the daily lives of her working-class family.

In_pictures Ellie Radford

Ellie Radford began her journey chasing the allure of fashion and the art form of clothing. Her own personal journey has opened her eyes to the fragmented reality of this industry where creativity is intertwined with idolisation and the challenges of femininity.

This series is part of a larger project investigating the connotations of colour associations and how these can be used as a form of silent communication.

In_pictures Bilimae Latimer

The still life in this exhibition is shown alongside a poem written for the project by K, the girlfriend of a victim of knife crime.

The picture was produced as part of a series documenting the rise of knife crime, specifically across the London borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Photographer Bilimae Latimer, herself a resident of the borough, started this project with the intention of opening up a conversation to a wider audience around the impact of the rise in violence in deprived areas. The project seeks to underline the importance of protecting the borough’s young people and investment in them.

The use of purple within the image acknowledges the purple ribbon campaign started by the family of Jodie Chesney, a resident of Barking and Dagenham, one of the most recent victims of the violence.

Creativity Works: Visual Storytelling is a Mayor’s Fund for London programme, supported by Berkeley Foundation, Citi Foundation and Arts Council England, and delivered by Create Jobs at A New Direction and Magnum Photos in partnership with the HudsonBec Group.