A T I RA A R I F F I N A Blurred Vision:
“(Invisible) Person or Object?” History and Theory Studies Draw the Walk Tutor : Ryan Dillon AA School of Architecture
Oxford Street, London.
INTRODUCTION A Blurred Vision:
“(Invisble) Person or Object?” The number of homeless who sleep rough in London increases every year. The urban nomads - as I would like to categorize this ambiguous type of ‘urban dwellers’, occupy every corner of the city, the gaps and voids in between, paving a thin secondary layer on the streets, be it on a crowded squares or a quiet alley. Sebsequently, they create their own tiny territory, carving their presence upon the city. The street became their sanctuary for survival in the vastness of the city. Over time, these people blend into the surrounding. They became chameleon, invisible. They turn into “objects” within the urban fabric. Ignored and overlooked. In the investigation of (Invisble) Person or Object, London became the ultimate testing ground as I set out on the mission of uncovering this extraordinary hidden objects embedded into the complex veins of the city. Projects (1997–2001) by Nikki S. Lee, showcases the depiction of the artist in snapshot photographs where she created an extension of herself as a an identity to portray various groups of American subculture. For this project I am inspired take a similar approach, to transfrom and immerse myself into the city of London and begin exploring it from the perspective of the homeless, to see the side of London that millions don’t see. The hidden objects that lay beneath the buzzing vibrancy and all the other beautiful objects that the city contains. The visual documentation will investigate this mismatched relationship, the homeless towards the city, and the city towards the homeless - to challenge our understanding of the ‘norms’, to see through the ‘things overlooked’, to see ‘something’ where there was once believed to be ‘nothing’. To uncover the infraordinary. This booklet contains photographs of London’s homeless in their territories, catalogue of found objects, sketches, maps, scans of handwritten notes, interviews and human portraitures - to provoke the question; in the eyes of London, are the homeless conceived as (invisble) person or object?
“I think a painting made out of the
is more like the real real world.” - Robert
world if it’s Rauschenberg.
Taking Rauschenberg’s collage as an inspirational model, this collected information will be the basis of the final image - the assemblance of colected found objects as the essece to formulate and construct the definition a person or an object. To distinguish or to blur? To separate or to overlap? To draw the line or to erase the line? - Atira Ariffin
Sloane Square, London. 04th September 2015
Sloane Square, London. 10th September 2015
Oxford Street, London.
Georges Perec :
“
Approaches to What? The daily papers talk of everything except the daily. The papers annoy me, they teach me nothing. What the recount doesn’t concern me, doesn’t ask me questions and doesn’t answer the questions I would like to ask. What’s really going on, what we’re experiencing, the rest, all the rest, where is it? How should we take account of, question, describe what happens every day and recurs every day: the banal, the quotidian, the obvious, the common, the ordinary, the infra-ordinary, the background noise, the habitual? To question the habitual. But that’s just it, we’re habituated to it. We don’t question it, it doesn’t question us, it doesn’t seem to pose a problem, we live it without thinking, as if it carried within it neither questions nor answers, as if it weren’t the bearer of any information. This is no longer even conditioning, it’s a anesthesia. We sleep through our lives in a dreamless sleep. But where is our life? Where is our body? Where is our space? How are we to speak of these ‘common things’, how to track them down rather, flush them out, wrest them from the dross in which they remain mired, how to give them a meaning, a tongue, to let them, finally, speak of what is, of what we are.
Perec, Georges, ‘Approaches to What?’ in Species of Spaces. Penguin Classics, 2008, p.209-211.
”
Argyll Street, London.
Left / Right
(Invisible) Person vs Object on the street. Observed similarity : Isolation from the urban settling, sense of non-existence, abandonment, zero-interaction to the immediate surrouding.
URBAN EXPLORATION During daytime, the London homeless distribution tend to be more concentrated in busy areas and main streets, especially within close proximity to the tube stations. Considering that these ‘urban nomads’ mainly survive on people’s sympathy, being strategically ‘visible’ at these particular places offers greater opportunity to be at the receiving end of the generousity bestowed by the passer-bys. Four tube stations within London’s primer locations were chosen to carry out my investigation and observation of London’s found objects ; Covent Garden Station Leicester Square Station Tottenham Court Road Station Oxford Circus Station
(55,561 daily commuters)* (106,246 daily commuters)* (65,726 daily commuters)* (211,205 daily commuters)*
Various major streets (Long Acre, Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street, Regent’s Street and Shaftebury Avenue) were linked in between the selected stations as planned routes to carry out the investigation. However, some of the routes were omitted and reoriented towards smaller streets within the inner soho area to allow for more variations in the observation. A series of constraints were established to set out the photographic documentation: 1. Posture : limited to only homeless sitting down or lying on the ground 2. Position : limited to only on the streets (not in parks, under bridges, etc) 3. Found objects on the street / pavement 4. Similar embedded objects : hats / sleeping bag / backpack / cups / gloves / plastic bags / cardboards / newspapers / rucksack / etc. 5. A maximum time limit of four hours within London’s rush hour (between 1 p.m. to 5 p.m) was set as a time constraint for the documentation. The investigation should not be carried out beyond the maximum allocated time limit.
Route:
Planned original route Route taken during the investigation Tube Station
(Invisible) Person
vs. Object
East Street, London.
A homeless person on the street with a can of beer and a medium-sized plastic rucksack next to him.
Oxford Street, London.
Unattended box and wool blanket possibly owned or left behind by a homeless person. A fragment/trace of the homeless that became part of the urban fabric.
Argyll Street, London.
(Left) Argyll Street, London. / (Above) Berwick Street, London.
Wet cardboard that might have previously used to sit on, possibly owned or left behind by a homeless person. A fragment/trace of the homeless that became part of the urban fabric.
Perspective 01 :
“The City towards the homeless.”
Leicester Square tube station, London.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes with homeless no. 01 (Michael) & 02 (name unknown) in front of Leicester Square Station exit.
(1)
Michael, from Ireland.
(2)
Unknown, unknown.
(1)
Michael, from Ireland. Lost his wife and struggled with depression.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes with homeless no. 03 (Arthur) on Oxford Street.
(3) Arthur, from Croydon.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation on homeless no. 04 on Argyll Street near to the exit of Oxford Circus station. No communication was attempted.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes on homeless no. 05 ( James) on Oxford Street.
(5)
James, from Leeds. Lost his flat.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes on homeless no. 06 (name unknown) at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. Very little conversation due to language limitation.
(6)
Unknown name, from Italy. Corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes on homeless no. 07 (insisted to remain annonymous as his family is not aware of his condition). Lost his relationship, stable job and home due to addiction to drugs. Currently on medication to overcome drug addiction.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes on homeless no. 08 (name unknown due to language barrier) on East Street.
(Above)
Personal observation, written documentation and conversation notes on homeless no. 09 (insisted to remain annonynous) on Oxford Street right in front of Tottenham Court Road station. He has been sleeping rough for 47 years, since he was 11 when he ran away from home due to abusive alcoholic father.
Perspective 02 :
The homeless towards the City.
(Above)
A series of sequential images taken from the homeless no.02 eye level every 15 seconds over the span of one minute in front of Leicester Square Station’s exit.
(Above)
A series of sequential images taken from the homeless no.03 eye level every 15 seconds over the span of one minute on Oxford Street.
(Above)
A series of sequential images taken from the homeless no. 04 eye level every 15 seconds over the span of one minute on Argyll Street.
(Above)
A series of sequential images taken from the homeless no.05 eye level every 15 seconds over the span of one minute near Tottenham Court Road Station.