The Housing Corporation commissioned me to produce a body of work that captured how affordable housing has changed the lives of social housing residents. I travelled across the country, photographing and recording the experiences of tenants who, for a variety of reasons, needed to move home.
The images and sounds collected were used for two installations, one in Gretra Hall on a housing estate in Pimlico and the other in a house in Longsight, Manchester. Both venues were transformed into ‘art galleries’ on the inside. Through a series of intimate portraits, abstract images and a poignant soundtrack, the work brought the dialogue between social engagement and contemporary arts practice into the world where the material was collected.
Open, is about the experience of moving home with all of its social, philosophical, and psychological implications. It is also about identity and the moral and intellectual questions raised by the representation of people and the changes that happen in their lives. Can representation speak the unspeakable, measure the unmeasurable, or does it necessarily contain, tame, or aestheticise the object and thereby fail it.
To view the videos, click here and here