London: Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

Formally buzzing with a thriving residential community reliant on the area's industrial heritage. Hackney Wick is now home to a growing east London creative community which have slowly moved here due to the city's soaring rents. The area straddles the Hackney Marshes to the north, the  Hertford Union canal pulses through it's center and Hackney Tower Hamlets interrupt it's skyline views across the city.

There is usually an emptiness to be felt in the area; you're not quite sure if people live or work in the vast array of flat roofed industrial spaces; colourful snippets of street art on precarious hard-to-get-at walls give some indication of creativity.  However, today the place turned itself inside out to host the 'Hackney Wicked' Festival in celebration of it's artistic spirit and an opportunity to show case much of it's diverse talent to the outside world.

Photography by Alva Mac Gowan

London: Brixton

Brixton is the final stop on the south bound Victoria line. It is one of the most racially diverse areas in London. There is a massive African and Caribbean community-which makes up one quarter of the population. They strongly hold onto their roots and traditions while the younger generation are carving a new identity for themselves. 

The diversity of Brixton is oozing from it's colourful streets. My first wander there was a complete culture shock; a mish-mash of cultural references, food, dress and languages that were completely exotic to me. Without realising it I had climbed out of London's dark underground and out onto the heaving streets of Brixton Splash- an annual free street festival which is run by the local community as a celebration of the district's vibrancy and diversity.

Luckily I had my camera with me, to record my first impressions of this crazy and colourful cultural melting pot.

Photographs by Alva

London: com-mute

com·mute

[kuh-myoot] Show IPA verb, com·mut·ed, com·mut·ing, noun

verb (used with object) 

1.  to travel regularly over some distance, as from a suburb into a city and back: He commutes to work by train.

I moved to London a year ago. It took me months to get my head around it's vast 150 year old underground rail system. At first, in 30 degrees of heat I found it stifling and claustrophobic. I have never been so intimate with strangers. Rush hour is an ordeal which you need to leave plenty of time for. The weekly "person on track" announcements remind you how lonely this metropolis can be. Then there's the buskers, the openly intimate couples, the drunks, the fashionistas, the Wimbledon fanatics, and of course the indecisive tourists. London's underground is a platform for everyone; regardless of wealth, status, race, profession, age or sexuality. It is actually the best place to view a comprehensive cross section of the millions of people who live, work and visit London. 

You just need to learn to go with the flow, swim with the tide and you will soon find your way in this labyrinth of colourful faces.