Now Here, Nowhere — Heygate Estate 2009
This artwork is comprised of nearly 100 individual photos of garage door shutters from the iconic Heygate Estate in South London, a Neo-Brutalist council house landmark once adored and loathed in equal measure.
Built in 1974, it was controversially demolished just forty years later in 2014 as part of the local council’s £1.5 billion ‘urban regeneration’ scheme, eradicating entire working class communities who inhabited the neighbourhood for decades.
The scandal displaced thousands of families across 1200 apartments, leaving many with no choice but to accept the Compulsory Purchase Order and head miles outside the capital to start a new life.
The Heygate was not without its safety concerns, of course, but was unfairly subjected to harsh media scrutiny, lamented as a post-war eyesore, a hotspot of gang violence and other nefarious activity — but equally cherished and fiercely defended by locals who celebrated it as a triumph in affordable housing.
Simultaneously, the Heygate was gaining notoriety as the go-to UK location for glamourised urban decay. Its architecture and sheer scale attracted hundreds of TV and film productions allowing Southwark Council to capitalize on the rampant fetishisation of the ‘gritty’ council estate. For them it was far more profitable to let these buildings fall further into disrepair and exploit this image of ruin than to maintain it, much to the dismay of tenants.
The estate’s growing popularity cemented its place in Pop culture where it was idolized and revered, refusing to be hidden from the landscape from whence it came. Its silhouette was soon seen everywhere from highbrow Fine Art to Hollywood blockbusters, undoing all efforts to shield its existence from plain sight.
Despite arguments for refurbishing the site at a signifcantly lower cost, the plague of gentrification was inevitable. Slowly but surely the Heygate, once home to 3000+ low-income Londoners, was destroyed just like countless other sites in the UK.
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My animated artwork is a tribute to the myriad personalities who occupied these homes, the vibrant working class communities who transformed the ‘failed’ concrete mammoth into a hub of diversity over its lifetime.
The title of this NFT plays on the ‘NOW HERE’ graffiti that lived on the roof of the 12-storey building until its demise. My never before published photos document the various ‘No Parking’ messages scrawled onto the garage doors using aerosol spray, marker pen or paint.
Unique signatures, a display not only of ownership but also individuality. Anonymous yet identifable, private and personal.
While we’ll never know those who were behind these garage doors, their collective story can live on and never be erased again.
This 1/1 NFT artwork can be viewed and purchased on Foundation.
20% of proceeds will go to UK charites that defend social housing. Collector will also receive all photos taken on 16 March 2009 with EXIF data intact.
1124p x 840p
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