Citizens of North Kensington
These portraits were shot in London on the streets of North Kensington during 2017 and 2018. Successive waves of immigration - Jewish, Irish, Caribbean, African, Asian and European - throughout the 20th century right up to the present day, have created a densely populated, very diverse community. Street food stalls selling Moroccan grilled fish and rice, bric a brac stalls and buskers from all over the world now trade outside shops which have been in the same family for four generations. Many of the people who perished in or survived the Grenfell Tower inferno in the summer of 2017 were relatively recent immigrants. The effects of social and economic deprivation are everywhere to be seen, but just as evident are personal aspiration, cultural pride, toleration and entrepreneurial spirit. Portraiture is a good medium to convey the extraordinary variety of people living and working in this remarkable neighbourhood. So much about a life is revealed too in the human face closely observed.