Doesn’t it piss you off when someone tells you can’t do something or your not able to achieve it? Doesn’t it make you want to do it more, right? Right. Statistically being brought up on a council estate means you achieve lower grades because of your parents’ income and the social status you acquire from living on an estate. Why should some numbers and percentages put you into a category that deems you to fail not only in education but also in life? Council Estates have this whole nostalgia that they are full of low-life, un-achievers that all long for their benefits and four cans of Stella from the local offie. Some maybe, and these ones are highlighted in the media for all to attack. Yet hidden beneath that, the ones that are not shoved onto barbaric programmes such as Channel 4’s Benefits Street and Channel 5’s Life on the Dole, there are the high achievers, the ones who want to succeed and improve their situation. We now live in a world where it is possible to be anything you wish to be, the possibilities are endless, so why do we write off those who are from less privileged backgrounds? Our society is unconsciously careful surrounding remarks about race and offensive utterances, which of course is a massive improvement and means as a country we are becoming educated rapidly on the matter but what happened about the discrimination against class? Are we back in the 19th century? I myself grew up for the first five years of my life on a council estate, and it was some of the happiest memories I have. Obviously crime rates have increased since the 1990’s but back then me and my older sister were free to play out with all the other children on the estate and allowed to venture to the park opposite and make mud pies and have constant play dates. Estates have a real sense of community, which I think is lost within the normal dreary working class streets, who fight over parking spaces and noise complaints. Since my days on Cornwall crescent estate we have become one of those families. But the appreciation of the housing system never leaves us. It was merely a stepping-stone within life for our family, a support whilst my mum worked 7 nights a week in Woolworths to afford a mortgaged house for us all. So, when people criticize those who live on an estate it angers me, as some of the comments are simply snobbery and the others are uneducated. These types of stories are always un-highlighted and we consistently stereotype and categorise because that is what we think we should be doing when we interact with others. Wrong. We all want an equal chance in life so why don’t we give an equal chance with each other?
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If I said poverty, what would be the first things that popped into your head? Africa? Disease? Small children living in filthy conditions with puddles of murky water to drink? Yeah, me too. But in actual fact many (the media and politicians) label the lower/ under classes of Britain to be in poverty. Those who are categorized in this social hierarchy are supposedly being consistently exposed to drugs and violence. Their aspirations in life look bleak as uneducated, unemployed family members and neighbours surround them. But we cannot label a whole class of being problematic, trouble makers who just seek out to cost the welfare state and the government more money. Ok, so some of these are facts. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report the UK has the worst poverty in the European Union with 23.2% of the British population living in relative poverty and their household incomes being 14k and under annually and 10% of the population are those living in Britain’s council homes. Residents of council estates are 100x more likely to commit crimes then those who live in residential areas. The highest committed crimes of council estate tenants are theft and the possession of illegal substances. Yet, this does not mean all of those habitants are born to commit crime and stay uneducated.
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As a nation we have many fewer opportunities for the youth of today compared to the rest of the globe. Council estates are stigmatized for encouraging anti-social behavior and offenses as many are surrounded by those who perish in misbehaving. It is proven that young people misbehave and commit crime due to being idol and bored. Presuming they are perhaps lost and jeopardising their unknown future. Many describe the youth of today as disruptive and self-absorbed – a generic label for all those twenty and under. No matter what class or generation we all need to be pushed into bigger and better things and stop loosing ourselves within the midst of social networking, shitty A-Levels and student nights. We are the generation to have it all and want it all but we can’t be taking naps and getting paid for it. We are not all blessed with supporting and motivating parents who encourage us to succeed in whatever we partake in but this should not burden those who did not receive this. The opportunity of education has rapidly improved for a vast majority in this country but it is the failure to find work that can lead many to an un-bright future. As a society we need to improve the work ethic and the belief in this generation and with this they can find their way, no matter of their housing circumstances.
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Many might say that communities whom live on council estates air their dirty laundry in public, referring to them parading their private lives across the streets loudly for all to hear. Does this perception come from the Jeremy Kyle generation who feature stereotypical lower class folk? Ok, so often when you may be walking through numerous council estates you can often become overwhelmed with numerous ‘Alright Love?’ and ‘Oi’’s being thrown around from person to person. It is much more loud and brass then most communities and many can label it as rude and abrupt but it very much part of council estate culture. Although it may seem bad mannered it is probably more interactive then most of us. Some say that arguing in public or reminiscing on happenings should remain private but this is simply a matter of opinion. What happened to ‘its better out then in?’ or maybe if you don’t like what you hear then don’t engage in listening to it. Perhaps it is not people simply airing their dirty laundry but instead passers by being nosey. Many link loud members of the public to deprived backgrounds.
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Perhaps this is a stereotypical label we have been forced to judge upon because of influences from the media. Take the channel 4 phenomenon’s ‘Shameless’ set on a fictional estate in Manchester, with the cast acting (remember that) out over dramatised characters and situations. The Gallagher family indulged into alcoholism, drug abuse, continuous crime and dodgy dealings in every episode. But again, this is acting – portraying a stereotype that we can identify and making it entertaining for the viewer. The reason why stereotypes were created was in act of a marketing ploy. Now, as a society we have inhabited these stereotypes and use them to categorise people at the first chance we get. We need to know if we can associate with these strangers or not, are they right for us? For instance, this could be used with the stereotype that all British people are patriotic tea lovers with bad teeth and we all talk like we have a toffee in ones mouth. Nope, not true and we know this. We know there is more to each and every one of us then these short sighted descriptions that people who do not know us give us! Meaning, we only defend ourselves, or what we are educated on. So if we all become educated on each others cultures this surely means our society becomes less judgemental when we understand the reasoning’s for certain actions. So, some may say think before you speak but all of us should think before we judge. Who cares if some people are more louder and bolder then others, these are the things that makes our identity individual not communal. Words by Lauren Smith
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Guilty. Only the other day did I include myself in the statistic of judging an other person in the first seven seconds. Yes, seven. The realisation happened to me whilst at work one weekend. Working within retail you are consistently meeting a variety of people from all works of life and interacting with them with the normal day-to-day weather chat. The humdrum shifts are the same, week in week out, with the odd customer making or breaking your day. When the clock rolls around to 12pm and all the shoppers cascade into the nearest fast food restaurants for lunch, the consistency of customers drop giving you more time to daydream. So, back to my encounter of judgment. It got to about 12 on this Sunday shift when a small bleached blonde women in her mid 20s appeared wanting my assistance with the cheapest product on the shelf. Instantly, I recognized the connection between the product and the stereotypical clothing she was wearing – flared denim jeans, a cheap black parka jacket, gold hoops and hair scraped up upon her head as high as the empire state building – council estate worthy. It was not until I engaged into conversation with the women at the cash desk to realize she was one of the most polite customers I had spoke to all day. Endless amounts of thank you’s and appreciation expressions cascaded from her voice. I was of course incredibly overjoyed, who doesn’t like being acknowledged for the work they have done? When normally all I receive is a mere mutter of ‘cheers’. But at that same moment it stung me with a bittersweet moment, only five minutes ago I had just judged this lady because of something she was buying and the clothes she wore. It made me think that she did not judge me at all but only on my service as a retail assistant. And that’s it. We all need to stop relying on clothing codes and a persons presentation to dictate that persons intentions. I know from now on I will stop to think before immediately judging a person on their appearance. As I myself know how it feels to be judged and the belittling feeling is not a nice one at all.
words by lauren smith
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The meaningful stings of ‘Skank!’ and ‘Tramp!’ echo through her ears as she walks through her college hallways. Rose is 17 and at college studying for her A-Levels so she can finally escape to uni and move away from Buckland Estate. An estate that has been bringing her down ever since she started at mainstream school. She thought that all the bullying would stop once she left secondary school. All the thoughtless words would stop being thrown around because her trainers were only £15 and her clothes were sometimes dirty and stained. It wasn’t her fault, she didn’t ask for her mother to be ill and not have any money. Rose would sit there and think what importance it had to have the latest clothes and be the most popular. It was all superficial and materialistic, did anyone else invest time in her to see what she actually had to offer, that was deeper than face value? No, not yet. She thought that it was just kids being mean and they would grow out of it one day. But adults did it too, why couldn’t anyone give her a chance? Why was the world so judgemental? It seemed that money did really make the world go round and people with it too. Only because she was from an estate it didn’t mean that she was a scrounger or her mum was a benefit fraud. It also didn’t mean that she would get into drugs or alcohol or have a baby in her teens. Rose is her own person with her own set of dreams and aspirations and is determined a council estate will not define her. words by Lauren Smith
photography & styling: Lauren Smith, model: Roseanne Alexander
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Now, what I’m trying to say is that the gritty perceptions create an overwhelming realistic approach to the audience which makes you feel as if you are standing there with that person who is being photographed. It is voyeurism on a much more in-depth level. Paul Wenham-Clarke has been a professional photographer for 24 years and his work ranges from cliental advertising to large exhibition pieces. Some of his most known work such as ‘Hard Times’, ‘Westway: A portrait of a community’ (both featured on the next few pages) and ‘When lives collide’ are all a series of portrait images which focuses on current UK issues and within partnership with chosen charities. But Paul has also differed into other areas such as photographing prosthetics, a project names ‘Bodyworks’ and also ‘Sacrifice the birdsong’ in where the award winning photographer has in captured images of deceased birds who lay lifeless on tarmac backgrounds. The two pieces of work that caught my attention the most are Wenham-Clarke’s Hard Times and Westway: A portrait of a community. The photographer documents a glimpse of a lifestyle in which many may not identify with, making it much more interesting to observe. The Hard Times project was created to mark the 20th anniversary of the charity ‘The Big Issue’. The work comprises of a series of portraits of Big Issue vendors, both working and captures their lives behind
the magazine and bib. The selection of photographs grasps the realistic harshness of being homeless
with both hands. Wenham-Clarke awakens the viewer that the subjects being photographed are real people and their sadness echoes on to those viewing. He cleverly includes surrounding images with snippets of their ‘home life’ that creates a lasting sentiment. Wenham-Clarke used a similar tactic when photographing The Westway in 2013 but on a much larger scale. He set out to photograph a whole community and portray the lives they live whilst under the A40 flyover in west London. The rich social and cultural diversity is displayed beautifully with the community being photographed in their own environment, clothing and poses. The relaxed vibe screams untouched realism. Adding to this large project, Paul also found the time to portray the world of a small community of Irish travellers who are positioned on the highway close to the centre of London. The Urban Gypsies in which Wenham-Clarke named the sub project show ‘some of the most significant days in their lives such as communions’, christenings and weddings that are stereotypically traditional of travellers. He stated that he felt urged to capture these moments as many new generations are leaving old traditions behind and opting for mainstream education and many marrying outside of the gypsy world. Making this project something that can be looked back on by future generations to come and make viewers feel a real sense of the community, something the photographer is best at and displays continuously through all of his work.
Words by Lauren Smith
photography: Paul Wenham-Clarke
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