Loupe

loupe REBIRTH

LONDON

ISSUE #1

£7.50 SPRING 2013

CLOSE

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die.

And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”

Mahatma Gandhi

CONTENTS Editor’s Note Rain’s of Leh Margherita Burns The show must go on Luca Piffaretti ReFashion Heidi Latham Phoenix Rising Caterina Ragg Back to Safety Luca Piffaretti Finding Solace Heidi Latham Outside Puppets Yi Wang Salvation by Art Mubeen Siddiqui

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01. REBIRTH

Editor’s Note London.

If you’re not born or raised here it can feel like a bit of a sucker punch when you first arrive. Relentlessly unpredictable weather, unreliable transport, exorbitant rents and service with a snarl. However, stay here a little longer, look a little closer (and possibly master the art of sartorial layering) and the quirks and charms of this great city will slowly seduce you.

Welcome to the first issue of loupe (like the magnifying device used to examine small details). Founded by five photographers from five different parts of the world that want to point their lens’s at the lesser seen aspects of London and share their experiences with new arrivals and locals alike. In each issue we will get up close with different a theme within London and invite other photographers and writers to do the same.

The theme for our inaugural issue is re-birth. Photography is, by its very nature, inextricably linked to the concept of re-birth in that one of its functions is to bring the past into the present. We thought it is also a particularly fitting motif for our launch issue as we’ve all experienced a re-birth of sorts since moving to London.

Our contributors have interpreted the subject in a variety of ways and in different styles of photography; architectural, portraiture, landscape, reportage and still life. In ‘The show must go on’ Luca Piffaretti uncovers the unusual trend of churches becoming theatres and theatres becoming churches and takes a wander through a hidden ecological park fighting for survival in a concrete neverland. Caterina Ragg goes behind the closed doors of former rehabilitation centre Featherstone Lodge which, after years of sitting idle, is finding life again as London’s first co-housing project for the elderly. I talk to survivors of domestic abuse about breaking free and starting again and the organisations that helped make that transition possible. Recycled bottles, fabric and paper to life in Yi Wang’s vivid photo essay ‘Outside Puppets’ about a collective of visual artists in south east London.

Finally we round off our launch issue with an uplifting story of triumph over adversity as former homeless drug addict, Lanre, tells Mubeen Siddiqui how he found ‘Salvation by art’ and why he is attempting to help young offenders and disadvantaged youths do the same.

We hope you enjoy the issue, now let’s get up close!

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Heidi Latham

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Margherita Burns

hat night I woke to light.

sky, then convoluted, twisted, corkscrewed.

Rain dripping over my bed, drumming

Pulsating,

like

lovers

climaxing,

then

an angry, crescendo beat on the rattling

lashing out at one another, and then again

windows of my guesthouse. Wind shaking,

intersecting, in an endless embrace that was

battering the young poplar trees, branches

love and death and death and love.

whipping the dry stone walls. Then rocks

Tentatively, I opened the window. I was blown

clattering, rolling over the cow paths.

back as I was hit by a blow. Wind laden with

I hoped the cows were safe, somewhere dry,

rain, jagged hailstones, mist and gale that

indoors.

came from all directions, from the river and

There was light, in the room. A cold, sharp,

the sky, from the ground and the small stupa

bitter light; flickering, like an old neon lamp.

on top of the mountains.

I couldn’t understand where it came from. It

I rushed to shut the window, pushing, my body

wasn’t moonlight. The light switch clicked,

arched forward against the rage outside.

useless. I looked out the window, streaked

Moved the bed to a point in the middle of the

with rivulets of rain, the pounding growing

room. Water dripping from the cracks in the

stronger. The sky was a battleground.

mud ceiling. On the bed I lay, curled up like

Lightening strikes as far as I could see; a

a bean. The sounds of the storm were now

tangled, electric mass, the circle closing

muffled, lower, yet amplified; they seemed

around me, looming nearer every second.

to have seeped through me. Electricity was

The sky kept hitting down, furiously, at the

creeping into my body, from my fingertips

land. The flashes of light were sometimes

all down my arms. I flexed my limbs to get

parallel, painting a giant zebra hide in the

rid of the spasms, like icy clamps closing

RAINS OF LEH

over my hands and feet, extended my fingers and toes to regain feeling. It moved to my torso, concentrated in my gut and stomach.

My innards were pinched and pulled and thrown upside down. My heart beat furiously.

Lungs closed up. I found myself gasping for oxygen, there seemed to be none. The feeling moved to my chest. My ribcage was shaken.

Vibrating. My head jerked back, bounced on the pillow, my neck was taut and rigid. I was blind.

I mustered my remaining consciousness to do the only thing I knew would calm me down. Swinging my arms around the room I found pillows and blankets and wrapped them around myself. The warmth and pressure drained the feeling away. My heartbeats slowly went back to normal. The storm passed, outside, the sounds faded away. My body was battered and bruised,

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paining. Didn’t stop hurting.

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Outside, silence. But not peace.

Eventually, I fell asleep.

The following morning, stacked, leaden

sickles, like the eyes of statues. He sat on

clouds shrouded the mountains. I thought

the mountain, looking down.

the landscape had been compressed. The

Then found a crevice, a gap in the mountain

sky was closer. The mountains lower. The

that fit his body and allowed the mountain to

horizon narrower.

envelop him. He hugged his knees, felt the

Outside, the young poplar trees had been

rock with his head. Closed his eyes.

snapped, littered the stream like rag dolls.

I walked down. Some people had started

The stream itself is swollen and angry,

digging.

pulsating, muddied and thick, a seeping

wheelbarrows. They were digging with

wound. Streets deserted. The blinds of the

spoons, cups and bare hands, dragged

Kashmiri pashmina shops and the Israeli

the mud and earth away with blankets and

restaurants were closed, mud-stained. No-

kitchen pots. Long queues snaked away,

one, in the streets.

people passing dirt-filled bowls to one

Whatever had happened, the worst was

another, depositing the debris in a heap at

below.

the end. No logic to it, perhaps. But I joined

I walked away from Changspa, towards the

in. Fingers were ringed with dirt. Backs

lower part of Leh.

curved under the weight of the mountain. We

Leh. Leh of the Palace, the Shanti stupa

found dolls and toy cars, the Qu’ran and the

and the sources of the Indus lay destroyed

Bhavad Gita.

before me. The gilded prayer wheels, Pali

No people, though.

characters smoothed and worn away by

The dead lay in a pile, wrapped in white cloth,

the centuries and the hands of passing

in a warehouse of Leh hospital. 276 of them.

pilgrims, were on the floor, covered in mud

They were to be cremated. Returned to the

and stones. The prayer wheels that Ladakhis

mountain, we were told.

cleaned lovingly, rubbed tenderly had been

We laboured under the sky looming ever

swallowed, together with buses and the bus

closer, there were talks of more rain, of

station, cars, minivans, shops and many,

another storm.

There

were

no

shovels

and

many houses.

The

mountain

had

fallen,

crumbled,

collapsed. Reclaimed the land and the

The rain never came back. Slowly, we kept digging.

people. Houses were dragged away. Sliced open, walls missing. I could see inside.

Carpets and painted chests. A sink with the washing-up. Old copies of the Times of India.

The people of Leh sat on the mountain, above what once was their city. They looked below like sentinels look over a siege, but still, motionless. Their eyes blank. A Kashmiri woman pulled her palloo over her face, held it in place with her teeth. Hands rubbing the naked, dead stone. Holding the mud between her fingers, feeling each tiny crystal.

A Nepali men lost his wife and three young His eyes had no expression, twin, black

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children. He didn’t scream, or wail, or cry.

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THE SHOW MUST GO ON After years of unstoppable decline, new religious communities and a group of people dedicated to the preservation of significant architectures are transforming old churches into theatres and ... old theatres into churches.

Images and text by Luca Piffaretti

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ot far from the Woolwich pier where the last London ferry still

With the advent of the new millennium, churches and theatres

shuttles between the two shores of the Thames, a majestic

experienced a renaissance of sorts that sparked an interchange

building stands as a witness to a forgone golden era of cinema. This

of the use of their spaces. A religious revival, helped by the crucial

building is the Odeon Theatre, an Art-Deco masterpiece designed by

contribution of the increasingly large number of immigrants

George Coles, the man behind many of the most beautiful Cinemas in

in London, created the conditions for the start of new religious

London. On the other side of the city, hidden among the trees on the

communities, eager to find spaces in which they could worship.

top of a hill not far from Hampstead Heath, the stained glass windows

Because of the limited availability of land and its prohibitive price,

of St. Stephen’s Church shine, touched by the rays of a shy and rare

some of these communities found a home in disused cinemas,

winter sun.

resulting in the restoration of many of these buildings to their former

Despite being erected at opposite sides of London in starkly

glory after years of emptiness and dust.

different architectural styles, these two buildings share some

At the same time, a new awareness regarding conservation issues

common elements. The most noteworthy being that they both

refocused public opinion on preserving such historical buildings, and

have a large space reserved for their devotees and they both have

in particular, churches. With great effort, many of these religious

a stage where Hollywood actors on one side and preachers on the

spaces were converted into concert halls, theatres, and community

other performed their rituals. It is because of these similarities, the

spaces intended for a vast array of purposes, from everything from

Odeon Theatre and St Stephen’s, along with many other churches

second-hand markets to wedding locations.

and cinemas all around London, share a common history of success

The reason why, years after their abandonment, it is still possible

and failure. The peaks and troughs of which continue today as their

to admire the wooden gates of St Stephen’s church or sit down on the

original purpose is subverted, transforming amusement spaces into

balcony of the Odeon Theatre in Woolwich, it is because all theatres,

holy temples and vice-versa.

churches, concert halls and cinemas have one thing in common.

But let’s start from the beginning. In 1937, the Odeon Circuit,

Whether their devotees are believers in prayer or the ordinary man

rapidly expanding thanks to a boom in cinema attendance that

out for a night of amusement, look at their eyes and they will be all

characterised those years, built a theatre in Woolwich. After years

pointing in one direction: the stage, where the show must go on.

of successful screenings, during the 1950’s the cinema started to suffer a chronic fall in audience numbers. This decline, which was felt nationwide, was partly a symptom of the post-war economic decline but predominantly due to the advent of television. By transforming the act of watching moving images to a more intimate (and domestic) ritual, Britons love affair with the cinema diminished year on year.

By 1962 UK cinema attendance fell to just 395 million, from a peak of 1.64 billion in 1946, forcing many of these movie cathedrals to change use. They became bingo halls, nightclubs and car parks, were

St. Stephen’s Rosslynn Hill

abandoned and left victim to the slow erosion of time, or were simply demolished to make place to new buildings.

years after the death of its architect Samuel Sanders

by Samuel Sanders Teulon, saw its seats beginning to gather dust.

Teulon who referred to it as his ‘mighty church’. It

Its history as a church ended in 1977 when, with maintenance costs

is one of the most representative examples of Neo-

rising and a congregation reduced to just a few dozen believers, it was

Gothic architecture in London. After its closure in 1977

left abandoned. A trend was emerging. As Britons moved away from

due to dwindling attendances and the rising cost of

the big screen, they simultaneously experienced an ever-increasing

maintenance, it was left abandoned for 22 years, during

estrangement from daily spiritual acts, insomuch as in 1979 only 12% of the population was classified as regular churchgoers. While there are many different factors that contributed to the decline of cinemas and churches there is at least one that is common to both: consumerism. With its pervasive emphasis on materialist practices, consumerism contributed massively to the erosion of the space once

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occupied by the spiritual dimension; central to its emergence was

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The church itself was not completed until 1875, two

Around the same period St Stephen’s church, designed in 1869

which it became home to squatters. Threatened by a series of projects that did not consider its historical and architectural significance – including a plan to transform it into a car park for the adjacent hospital - it was finally leased to the St Stephen’s Restoration and Preservation trust. After an investment of £5.6 million and 10 years of works, the church reopened in 2009 offering a space for cultural and artistic activities

television, whose revolutionary technology undermined the cinema

as well as weddings and a housing a school in its

business.

basement.

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The Odeon Woolwich / Gateway House Designed by George Coles, the Odeon Woolwich is one of the capital’s most beautiful Art-Deco cinemas and is considered the epitome of the Odeon style. Built in 1937 with a capacity of 1828 seats, it stands in front of another magnificent cinema, The Granada Theatre designed by Theodore Komisarjevski, one of the most prominent cinema architects of that time. While the flowing curves of its exterior have remained the same, its interior structure and decor have changed enormously over the years. First renovated in 1964 and then split into two cinemas in 1990, it changed ownership in 1981 before closing its doors in 1999. It was acquired shortly after by the New Wine Church, a London based Pentecostal Church, who continued restoration and conservation work and changed its name to Gateway House.

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The Avenue Theatre / Ealing Christian Centre The structure of this relatively small independent cinema was designed in 1932 by Cecil Masey. It became known as the Spanish city due to its moorish interior and orange ceilings which were designed

by Theodore Komisarjevski. It was taken over by the Odeon circuit in 1936, then briefly by the Sherman Coronet circuit in 1981 before reopening as a nightclub in 1988. It was eventually acquired and returned to its original splendour by the Elim Pentecostal Church. In 2000 the Cinema Theatre Association in co-operation with the Elim Church organised the first film show in

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the theatre for 15 years.

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Church of Christ, Scientist / Cadogan Hall A rare example of Neo-byzantine style architecture in London, Cadogan Hall was completed in 1907 under the supervision of British architect Robert Chisholm, better known for his pioneering Indo-Saracenic buildings in Madras, India. The church interior, which features stained glass windows designed by Danish artist Arild Rosenkrantz, included an organ positioned in the empty apse that surrounds the stage. With the number of worshippers falling sharply during the 70s and 80s, the congregation decided to move in 1996 leaving the building vacant until 2000, when it was finally purchased by Cadogan Estate and converted into concert hall. The venue is today home of the

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prestigious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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St. Marks / Brick Lane Music Hall Designed by Samuel Sander Teulon, St Marks’ history resembles one of his most celebrated creations, St Stephen’s Rosslynn Hill. Built 8 years before St. Stephen’s, it fell into disuse in 1974, when the number of churchgoers fell so low that the parish was forced to close. After surviving a fire in 1981 it remained derelict until 2001 when the UK’s only fully functioning Music Hall relocated there from a converted canteen in Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. Today, after more than £1 million spent to restyle St Marks’ interior, the notes of traditional British melodies have replaced religious songs.

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REFASHION Images and text by Heidi Latham

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n a small basement room, below a softly lit shop on Hackney Road in East London, there is magic happening. Working away deftly on a vintage singer sewing machine, one of Junky

Styling’s Central Saint Martin’s trained piece makers is turning an out-dated men’s trench coat into a women’s statement jacket. There is a kind of ordered chaos to the workshop.

Walls of shelves stacked high with men’s shirts, jackets and trenches squeezed onto rails and bags stuffed full of trousers. If they hadn’t been rescued, most of these items would have been bound for landfill or relegated to a life at the back of the wardrobe.

Founded 15 years ago, it was Londoners Kerry Seager and Annika Sanders love of unique clothes, individual style and passion for fabric inspired them to start customising their own clothes. ‘We wanted to be wearing unique, good quality clothes but we were cashstrapped students so we started raiding charity shops for old suit jackets, trousers and shirts…basically anything with a nice, good quality fabric…and then literally cut it up and put

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it back together again to make a totally different item of clothing.’

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They have come a long way from their humble beginnings on a stall in Portobello market, with their designs now gracing the catwalks of London, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks. The style of the clothing is true to London’s individualistic and non-conformist roots with many of the garments bearing similarities to the designs of the grand dame of British high fashion and ultimate non-conformist Vivienne Westwood. Like Westwood, they marry traditional British fabrics with unusual designs and asymmetric lines.

The ethos of the company is the antithesis of throw-away fashion, the proverbial two fingers up to the likes of Primark. Ethical, sustainable, made to last (and to be loved) by talented dress makers in East London rather than a sweatshop in South-East Asia. What they are doing at Junky Styling challenges our city’s obsession with ever-changing and short-lived fashion trends for which clothes are made in minutes, consumed in days and thrown away with out an after-thought.

Bottom. Ex-army jackets await the junky treatment on the cutting table

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Top. The workshop, where the magic happens

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Clockwise from bottom left: All Junky Styling’s garmets are individually created by highly trained piece makers in the companies East London workshop;

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Collars made from recycled plastic bottles for sale in the JS shop Me sporting a JS creation!

Although they sell ‘off the rack’ items in the shop each of the garments is still unique in that they are all made from different second hand garments. A service that Junky call ‘wardrobe surgery’ makes up a large portion of their business. The idea is that you can re-work your wardrobe without having to throw away old clothes and replace them with new ones.

You just bring in, for example, a pair of trousers that is looking a bit tired around the knees and have it refashioned into another garment. ‘I love the idea that your clothes can become heirlooms,’ says Kerry.

‘You can bring in your dad’s naff old jacket or your granddad’s favourite overcoat and have it made into a bespoke garment that will enjoy second life with you’.

In a consumer society like London, Junky Styling challenges the notion that new is better and makes beautifully designed, bespoke clothing accessible to those whose budget is more ‘I’m not sure if I can’, than Louboutin…

…and one thing is for sure, they’ve changed the way I look at an old pair of suit trousers forever!

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View of Featherstone Lodge from the garden.

Despite enlargements, the garden will remain the centre of activities for the co-housing inhabitants.

PHOENIX RISING A group of pensioners are fighting to convert former drug rehabilitation centre Phoenix House into London’s first co-housing project for the elderly, aimed at creating a community that responds to the needs of it’s ageing residents.

Images and text by Caterina Ragg

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rotected by branches, the narrow, unpaved road leading up to Featherston Lodge invites curious passer-bys

to explore.

Following the gravel road, the wooden and cast iron door built in 1858 is one of the few original elements to survive last century’s extensions and change of fixtures.

John Brady opens the door. After being inhabited by families for nearly a century, Featherstone Lodge was transformed into a Private Mental Home. In the early 70s, Professor Griffith Edwards established the Featherstone Lodge Project, later Phoenix House, a drugs rehabilitation centre. The centre closed in 2006, leaving Featherstone Lodge empty but for a ghost who allegedly haunts the room at the top of the house that sits under the large cast-iron phoenix on the roof, to which the rehab centre owed its name.

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John has been the sole occupant of the premises ever since he moved in.

He welcomes visitors kindly. He moved here five years ago, sent by an agency that provides caretakers for temporarilyuninhabited houses. “Initially, they told me I was supposed to be here for 6 months, “ he says “now it has already been 5 years living in ‘The Shining’. That’s the name my children gave to the house.”.

In 2011, John Brady was contacted by a man and his wife, John and Julia Farr. The couple invited John to join their project; buying Featherstone Lodge and turning it into the first co-housing project for elderly people in London.

The idea of co-housing was created in Denmark in the 1960s, when young families bought properties to share living space, needs and expenses for their children.

Different groups have been founded recently in the UK, but while in the rest of England sites as Lilac (Low Impact Living Affordable Community) have already started to accommodate their future residents, in London the diffusion of co-housing is suspended at a crucial point.

John and Julia were fascinated by the idea. The couple define themselves as ‘baby boomers’,the generation born in the 1950’s in Western Society, the first generation to have guaranteed schooling and healthcare, as well as the privilege of living in the years

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of the economic boom.

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John Brady, the guardian of the house, in one of the many rooms.

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This page. Stephen in the rooms that will be converted in his house.

Stephen admits that at the origin of his decision there is his long term girlfriend; for her he decided to move to London “we tried to live together but it didn’t work, we are a strange couple,” he said. “the prices offered by the co-housing are much more affordable than the one on the property market”.

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Opposite page. The ‘smoking forbidden’ signs are evidence of the past of the house as a rehabilitation centre.

“Our children have grown up, we live in an

old age, but enjoying it.

empty house now,” explains Julia. “The life

John and Julia together created the Co-

expectancy for elderly people has increased,

Housing in Sydenham project, and in 2011

we feel young still, we want to invest in our

attempted to bring together a group of people

own future so that we don’t have to and up in

to buy Featherstone Lodge. “Unfortunately,

a home when we can’t look after ourselves

we realised that people don’t want to invest

anymore”.

in something that doesn’t exist yet,” says

While the population of pensionable

John. So they asked the Hanover Society,

age will grow by 3.8 million over the next 25

an association that provides retirement

years, as well as the number of over 85’s

housing, for help in offering to buy the

(Office for National Statistics), the request

property for £1million.

for new structures able to match their needs cannot be ignored.

With home ownership in decline and rents increasingly higher, Julia says “Older people have control over the larger part of UK homes while there are many families that

family structures, where children are not

need a home like ours. We were lucky we had

always available to take care of their parents.

a comfortable life, it is now the time for us to

If old age often means isolation and no

retire and leave our homes to young people,

longer being self-sufficient, the aim of the

we simply don’t need it anymore”.

co-housing supporters is not avoiding the

Over the last year, the Farrs and Hanover

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Besides, changes to modern society has seen a transformation of the all traditional

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Society consulted architects and collaborated

The Hanover Society will look after the

in planning a large community, based on

construction of the new apartments for

the principles of living together with shared

community members and the percentage

communal spaces and activities but still

dedicated to social-housing, while John,

making sure that each inhabitant will have

Julia and the others, plan to buy the single

an individual space. Green technology and

flats so that they can start their co-housing

planning a sustainable lifestyle are some of

project as owners.

the most important community policies, like a system of car sharing between residents.

“In this country, people don’t like talking

as they are grow older. During her childhood

to their neighbours,” says John Brady.

she was a student at the Primary School,

“We aren’t hippy nostalgics. Living in a co-

down the hill. “At least once a week the

housing, if I decide I want to have lunch with

children of the Eliot Bank Primary School

somebody, I can, if I want to talk to somebody,

come to our garden to play,”she said “Once

I can.”

the project will be done, we would like to

The project includes an extension of the

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original structure and the addition of new

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Jo, one of the members, said that they have to plan and improve their quality of life

keep inviting them here, children always help one to remain younger”.

living blocks along the perimeter of the large

John Brady knows it will be at least one

garden, populated by an old chestnut tree

year before the end of construction works.

and at least five foxes.

It is in his eyes that I perceive the desire of

Opposite page. The room used previously to hide drugs, is now a deposit where the Eliot Bank Primary School pupils leave their toys

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This page. Cedric was born in North London, “ I am fascinated by the idea of co-housing, I would like to create an art gallery and invite people, sharing is an important value to be preserved�.

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rebuilding the house. “When the children are not here it is only me and the ghost”.

“When I moved here I was impressed by the security measures, alarms, locked doors, barred windows,” says John “ then I realised they weren’t there to prevent criminals to enter, but to prevent who lived inside to escape.”

On March 16th 2013, the members of Hanover Society and of the Co-Housing in Sydenham are sitting around a table.

Today, the last details will be discussed. If everything goes well, the restoration will finally be able to begin.

“It is time to remove the bars from the

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window” says John.

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Jo in one of a play rooms used by the children of the Eliot Bank Primary School.

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BACK TO

SAFETY Images and text by Luca Piffaretti

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t the station’s exit there is no trace of the quiet beauty that the words ecological

park might normally call to mind. A group of bicycles sit abandoned in various states of disrepair surrounded by a grey cover that, starting from the sky, melds with a nearby concrete building. Welcome to Canning Town. Here, before the docks were closed in 1981, everything revolved around the river, which was a central means of transport for both goods and people. Today, everything is centred around the new railway, along whose route new residential and commercial buildings have sprouted like the myriad of objects that emerge from the river’s mud during shallows periods.

Not far from the station, a makeshift gate welcomes visitors to the Bow Creek Ecological Park, a hidden gem all but cut off from the world by the cathedrals of glass that dominate the skyline of Canary Wharf on one side and the derelict Docks on the other.

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A first glance would instill skepticism even in the most optimistic of nature lovers: used tires, broken glasses, plastic bottles and filthy clothes offer a somewhat depressing historic account of some of the greatest products our society has produced (and wasted) since the industrial revolution. When inside the park, eyes already so accustomed to the saturated greyness of the area, one cannot help but focus on the flyover’s concrete, where the red railway cars rattle past as they cut the peninsula in two parts. There is no room, not yet,

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for the park’s subtle harmony of colors that lie below.

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Then, gradually, the city starts to fade into the background and nature begins to take centre stage. The highway noise fades to nothing, replaced by the rustle of the bamboo moving in the breeze. The discarded objects emerging from the river become a funny puzzle of shapes around which ducks and seagulls swim in nonchalance.

It is in that moment, engulfed by the details of a disfigured sort of nature that, the urban being transforms into human being, realizing that it is not the nature that is trapped but himself; now finally free to feel the way back to his roots, like a bird flying back to his nest.

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FINDING

SOLACE With domestic and sexual violence hitting the headlines with increasing frequency, Loupe takes a closer look at the organisations helping tackle the problem of abuse in the capital and meets some of the women starting a new life without fear.

Images and text by Heidi Latham

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This page. One to one therapy helps women deal with their experiences and aims to prevent them returning to an abusive relationship

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Opposite page. Having safe and fun areas for children to play in the refuges means more women feel comfortable about fleeing the family home

our home is your sanctuary, an inviolable

world’s first official safe house for battered

retreat, the place you feel completely safe.

women was established in Chiswick, West

But what happens when your home becomes

London (by the charity Refuge) the culture

a place of fear, suffering and violence and

of silence continued unabated for years.

the person or people responsible are those

Many women were too scared to report their

that are supposed to love you the most?

partners for fear of reprisal, lack of belief,

One in four women know exactly how this

blame and inadequate protection from the

feels because at least a quarter of women

law to guarantee their safety if they did leave.

globally will experience domestic violence

An enormous amount of progress has

at some point in their lifetime. Furthermore,

been made since then, fuelled by the work

two women in the UK die at the hands of a

of pioneering organisations such as Refuge

partner or ex partner every week .

- now the largest provider of domestic abuse

For centuries domestic violence was

services in the UK - and the London based

not spoken about. It was something that

charity Solace Women’s Aid (SWA). Despite

happened in private, behind closed doors, and

operating on an ever-shrinking budget,

as such was considered no-one’s business

SWA responds to the needs of the individual

but that household’s. Even when in 1971 the

woman providing advice, therapy, refuge,

advocacy - anything that will help them

abusive household, with one child becoming

escape their abusive relationship and assist

very disruptive and violent at school and the

them in forging a new life without abuse and

other depressed, anxious and withdrawn.

fear. The support they offer is not restricted

After a particularly savage beating during

to the direct victims however; children

which her daughter witnessed her being

frequently witness the abuse of their mother

raped and beaten with a metal pipe, and

and are powerless to stop it; the result of

her husband threatened to take both their

which is that they often need just as much

lives, Maria made a decision that she must

support as the victim themselves.

get them away from him, whatever it took.

For many women their children, if they

‘I’d lost every little shred of self- worth but

have any, are their raison d’etre and leaving

the instinct to protect my children kept me

is often to protect them. Maria*, 45, was

clinging to life’.

Leaving is not easy. Statistics suggest

and tortured by her husband over the course

that it is when women try to leave that they are

of their seven year marriage. Her children

at most risk of being killed by their abuser.

bore witness to countless attacks on their

This is where the services of charities such

mother and began to show signs of an

a SWA are so crucial. With the support of a

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repeatedly and systematically beaten, raped

“I’D LOST EVERY LITTLE SHRED OF SELF- WORTH BUT THE INSTINCT TO PROTECT MY CHILDREN KEPT MY CHILDREN KEPT ME CLINGING TO LIFE.”

43

specialist advice line, Maria was able to make

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preparations to leave and minimise risks that

44

family, they are able to start their lives over.

Survivors

of

domestic

abuse

draw

he would be able to track them down and

strength from different areas, their children

harm them, and also ensure that adequate

and other family members, pets, creative

support and protection was available for her

outlets such as writing and art, and physical

children when they relocated to a refuge. In

pursuits. Joan, now 82, was abused as a

each of the 14 refuges they operate across

small child by Roman Catholic nuns for

London, SWA provide specialist care for

being the only non-Catholic in the convent

children to minimise the effect of what they

she boarded in whilst her parents were

have been through, and to begin healing the

abroad. ‘I was punished constantly in public,

emotional and psychological wounds so that

humiliated, laughed at, so were my parents.

the cycle of abuse ends with them. Maria’s

I was told I was wicked, I was destined for

experiences bear witness to this, ‘With the

hell forever and God would never forgive

support of some wonderful, gentle children’s

me’. Later in life her father, who had mental

therapists at Solace my kids are doing great

health problems, became convinced she was

now. They understand that it was not their

his enemy and banished her from home. He

fault and that what he did was wrong and not

forced her to live her twenties in isolation,

normal.’

with no friends or family to support her. ‘I

Refuge workers have spoken of the

feared I was going mad, until I started having

remarkable resilience and strength of these

counselling. No one knew about the convent

women. Even after a comparatively short stay

until recently, nor was I able to talk about it’.

in a refuge they are able to start their lives

She survived by keeping a diary most of her

again, sometimes rebuilding it from nothing.

life, using it to channel her rage, fear, grief

In extreme cases women are forced to flee

and loneliness. She also wrote poetry. ‘To

with nothing but the clothes on their back

date I have written 680 poems. What I do is

but, still, even after arriving at the refuge

work on a particular theme that is bothering

with no possessions, work, money, friends or

me at that moment. By doing this and

listening to my feelings within, I was able to

freedom, happiness and self-acceptance

overcome my experiences.’

that has flourished since leaving her abusive

Some women also discover that in

husband of 22 years. ‘I‘ve taken and collected

the process of forging a new identity for

polaroid’s for as long as I can remember’

themselves following their escape from an

– the evidence of which you can now see

abusive relationship, they experience an

displayed all over her kitchen cupboards. ‘I

overwhelming urge to try new things, or a

was repeatedly told I didn’t have a creative

resurgence of passion for pursuits that they

bone in my body, that I was useless and

may have been either prevented from doing,

incapable. So I only let myself give in to my

or told they were useless at.

creative urges when I broke free from him.’

Confident, well spoken and articulate,

50, for which art has been of less a coping

Sarah doesn’t really fit the profile that most

mechanism and more an expression of

people associate with abused women. The

This page. Sarah has re-discovered her love of photography and art since leaving her abusive husband, examples of which decorate the walls and cupboards of her home

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This was certainly the case for Sarah,

Opposite page. An art group organised by SWA for service user.

45

sobering truth however, is that there is no ‘type’. Domestic abuse does not discriminate, it knows no bounds of race, intelligence or social demographic. Sarah attests to the fact that it was this misconception that prevented her speaking out for so long. ‘People don’t think it happens to people like me. They don’t associate domstic abuse with someone with a good career, a big house and a seemingly charming

husband’.

When

Sarah

met

George* she was a happy, confident and successful media industry executive. He was charismatic, handsome and devoted and to her recollection showed no signs of his true character. “From what I can remember the other side emerged after marriage and when pregnant. It was like a devil had been released and its function was to let me know I was a terrible person before I met my husband, morally corrupt and he had saved me from ending up somewhere awful”.

It is not unusual for problems to begin during pregnancy or soon after marriage.

Sarah, like so many other women found herself trapped in a relationship where she was made to believe that she was the one to blame. ‘I think the most shocking thing is when you realise the nice part of the person you trusted was premeditated to confuse you and so you were flooded with gratitude when the kind side was shown’.

With the help of Solace, Sarah gained the strength to leave and the support not to go back. When asked what it is that helped her get through her dark times she says ‘her boys’ and, perhaps ironically, boxing. ‘When I started training I couldn’t concentrate but it helped focus my mind and of course unleash some pent up aggression’. When asked what she treasures most about her new life she says without hesitation ‘freedom’.

Sarah,

Maria

and

Joan

are

living

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proof that women in violent and abusive

46

relationships can and do leave their abusers and start over. But they need support. By ensuring that organisations such as Solace Women’s Aid have the funds to maintain vital escape routes, more women in the capital will not be left to deal with the horror of domestic abuse on their own and will have the help they need to leave and begin to live a life without fear. *All names have been changed to protect the identity and safety of the women in this article

Opposite page: top: Boxing training has helped Sarah harness her emotions and focus her mind since leaving her abusive ex-husband; Bottom: Protecting her children was paramount to Sarah making the decision to leave.

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This page: Sarah in the bedroom of her flat, where she lives alone and feels safe, something which she was denied for the duration of her marriage.

47

“The shouting and screaming all the time.

A voice inside you says what have I done?

Inside another little bit of me chipped away.

Up I get to live yet another day.

In a prison where the cell bars are my ribcage And my heart is trying to break free.

Looking to others to give me the key.

But from the outside everything looks fine, You’re helpless and paralysed while your strings are being pulled Into a false sense of security that everything is really ok.

You let your guard down just for a second Think kind thoughts and he is in like a shark ready for the kill To use your vulnerability against you.

You stand up for yourself it just gets worse, you can’t get out of bed you are nearly finished.

But your revenge is to live your life again, the best way you can.

Appreciate everything that is good in your life, celebrate that you got away Never again to live that way.

Your ribcage opens your heart leaps out singing, laughing and dancing for everyone to see.

You untrapped yourself, you did it all on your own, because only you know what was going on behind closed doors”.

Poem by Sarah.

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With thanks to Solace Women’s Aid (www. solacewomensaid.org) and the brave women who have spoken out against their abusers.

49

OUTSIDE PUPPETS Images and text by Yi Wang

O

utside Puppets is a London based collective performers

of

visual with

a

artists

and

passion

for

performance and puppetry. The group, which includes circus artists, sculptors, dancers, animators, musicians, mimes and actors, gather together to make puppets out of discarded every day materials - bringing to life the rejected and unwanted, as a statement of acceptance, will and hope. Outside puppets is a breath of fresh air when you need it most, a reminder of the simple relief of a smile.

O

utside Puppets is a London based collective of visual artists and performers with a passion for performance

and puppetry. The group, which includes circus artists, sculptors, dancers, animators, musicians, mimes and actors, gather together to make puppets out of discarded every day materials - bringing to life the rejected and unwanted, as a statement of acceptance, will and hope.

Outside puppets is a breath of fresh air when you need it

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most, a reminder of the simple relief of a smile.

52

“Sometimes we have an idea in mind and we develop it by trying different materials, or we might find an interesting and mostly inspiring object or material and build from these finds. Sometimes we might be given materials and brief for a commission. Often there is a first puppet being made and as we practise with it and as its character comes out with the performance developing along it gets improved, modified and adapted. Through practice of a puppet, we understand its movement, the way it moves and we seek to find a compromise between its structural and performative capabilities.�

Ludo, artist and workshop facilitator for Outside Puppets collective

+ Compassion

PRIEST loupe

- Zeal

54

+ Communication

SAGE

- Verbosity

+ Creation

ARTISAN - Artifice

+ Persuasion

WARRIOR - Coercion

Many of the puppets created by the team at ‘Outside Puppets’ have their own character. These seven puppets are based on a book called “7 Personality Types” by sociologist Elizabeth Puttick Ph.D. According to the book, the seven archetypes

of

King,

Priest,

Sage,

Scholar, Warrior, Artisan and Server are said to exist in daily life, with most people belonging to one of these roles.

Priest: is on a mission to make the world a better place; Sage: just wants to have fun and entertain their audience; Artisan: has a fluid personality and is uniquely creative; Warrior: rises to the challenge and will always get the job done; Server: their happiness lies in helping others; Scholar: their curiosity takes them anywhere for knowledge; King: strives for mastery and is a natural leader.

Each role is also said to have positive and negative poles. The positive pole leads people to happiness and wellbeing, while operating from the negative pole brings dysfunction and unhappiness.

+ Service

+ Knowledge

SERVER

SCHOLAR

- Bondage

- Theory

+ Mastery

KING

- Tyranny loupe 55

Each of the Outside Puppets members collect recyclables such as newspaper, fabric, wood, plastic and bamboo to make their own puppets. Participation in performances and puppet making is not fixed but instead alternates according to each members availability. Each of them has a role to play within the group but there is no leader or rigid hierarchy. Instead, in the spirit of a true collective, they encourage the

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sharing of different thoughts and ideas so they can and grow with each other and allow the dynamism of the collective to flourish.

56

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57

Collective members are performing a satirical comedy at Squatney Wick Event.

SALVATION BY

ART

Lanre Olagoke, a former homeless drug addict tells Loupe how his passion for art saved him from a life of despair and how he is helping young offenders turn their lives around in the same way

Images and text by Mubeen Siddiqui

W

hen you walk into the Kingly Court off Carnaby Street in Soho, one of the

first things you notice is a colourful gallery and studio. Inside, wearing a stylish hat and holding a colour palette in his left and a brush in his right, the artist stands in middle of the space. What we do not see is the dark tunnel through which he has passed, leading him in front of the canvas where he stands today.

Even today when a child says he wants to become an artist, it is often a worry for their parents. Lanre Golagoke, born in London to Nigerian parents, expressed his ambition to pursue a career in painting thirty years ago.

Instead his parents encouraged the study of economics in college. In his second year, he was dismissed for copying another student’s essay. At the age of 20 when he failed to convince his parents to let him pursue a career in art, he decided to leave home in search of freedom on streets. His sister took him in but subsquently asked him to leave when she found out that he had converted her apartment into a messy studio.

By that time Golagoke had started taking drugs, and along with other addict friends, started squatting in empty spaces.

Eventually the Camden Council put him up in a hostel which gave refuge to the homeless.

Describing the hostel and the people living there, Golagoke says “It was a place where all the people we generally see on streets asking for spare change and the drug addicts lived. We called it the drugs den.”

Addicted to marijuana and cocaine, and living among others who also were, Golagoke saw no hope for better days. Witnessing the situation and the kind of life he and others were living, he remembers praying one night and saying aloud “God! Where are you? Why are we all in this place?” Overheard by a passing by Irish man, who had been in and out of prison for twenty one years, he was prisoners. Excited by the idea of teaching, he immediately agreed.

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offered the chance to teach painting to young

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“NOBODY WANTS TO BECOME HOMELESS, A DRUG ADDICT, OR A PROSTITUTE. IT’S CIRCUMSTANCES AND WE BECOME VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES.”

62

His first visit to the prison made a huge

a new look at his life and changed mindset,

impact on his life. He says “I went to a prison

he conquered his drug addiction. When

for an introductory session with the young

Camden Council upgraded him to a studio

convicts. As I interacted with them I realised,

apartment, he even chose not to use the

I could relate myself with them, I could have

shared bathroom and instead paid and used

been one of them. The moment I left that

showers of public swimming pool just to

prison, I decided I will never take drugs

avoid the sight of blood and syringes on the

anymore.”

floor.

Since that day he started to invest every

Having lived life led by circumstances,

single penny he had in buying paint and art

he decided to dedicate his life to help young

supplies. He believes the canvas is his victim

people in similar situations. He says “Nobody

and the brush his weapon. Differentiating

wants to become homeless, a drug addict,

between painting and drugs, he says “All

or a prostitute. It’s circumstances and we

my pain, my anger was going straight on

become victims of circumstances.” He had

the canvas. I sometimes look at the canvas

a big vision of setting up a charity dedicated

like the cross in a church. It always takes

towards teaching art to young convicts. He

away my pain, my anger even though I abuse

used all his contacts to raise funds for the

it with my brush.” He continues “And then

charity. Laughing, as he recalls a moment

when I look at drugs, it lasts only for a short

when he applied for the national lottery, he

while, but my paintings lasts forever.” With

says “Holding the application form in my

hand, I remember praying ‘God, you have

says, child, even though it doesn’t seem like

given me this vision, you have to give me a

it now, you are going to be great. That child

provision.” Few months later he received a

starts becoming great because of that seed

phone call from the national lottery board

being planted into his spirit.” Lanre looks

informing him that he has been granted

back at himself as a young person saying “I

67,000 pounds for his charity Art Alive Arts

did not have anyone who said to me, you are

Trust. Soon after the funds were granted,

going to be great. My seed was killed instead

he

of being nurtured.”

started

gathering

different

artists,

musicians, ceramists, painters, dancers,

Lanre Olagoke, now at age of 50 looks back at

and textile designers, the charity organised

his life as a homeless drug addict and says

many workshops in prisons for young adults.

he always believed one day he will be one of

Last year, Lanre launched Soho Arts Fair.

the greatest artists in the world and his drive

It is now an annual event which showcases

to succeed and overcome his demons lay in

fashion shows, street plays, and exhibition of

that belief.

paintings, photography and ceramic arts.

The painter, whose charity has helped

As a young person Lanre lived a life

more than 5000 ex-offenders, believes art

in discouragement and neglected by his

helps young people beyond building a career

parents, which is the biggest motivation for

after prison. He tries to teach these young

him to help young people in recognising

people art as a way to release pain, anger

and encouraging them in their talent. When

and humiliation. He feels that that is what

questioned about his inclination towards

they need the most. He says “Sometimes

young prisoners, he explains “What happens

when the pain is so much inside and when

when they come out of prison? I realized if

there is nowhere to let it out, you use a gun

art can change me around, it can save many

which in my case is my brush. Art is my

others as well. When someone says to a

salvation. And that is why I go to prison and

young person, you are a fool, you are going

say art is my saviour.”

to be nothing, psychologically, mentally, the child starts to become what they are repeatedly told they are. But when a parent

Opposite page. Works of Lanre’s students which will be displayed in Soho Arts Fair. The Event is due in August 2013.

Bottom. Lanre Olagoke’s studio at Carnaby Street

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This page, top. As a dedication to Lanre, all his students make a figure of a man in a hat in a corner of their art work.

63

REBIRTH ISSUE No 1 Editor: Heidi Latham heidi.j.latham@gmail.com +44(0)7985595005 Picture Editor: Yi Wang wyphoto1988@gmail.com +44(0)7521526193 Designer: Caterina Ragg caterina.ragg@gmail.com +44(0)7935604623

Subscription enquiries: Subscription@loupe.co.uk General enquiries: info@loupe.co.uk Feedback: feedback@loupe.co.uk

Loupe® (ISSN 2351-3384) Quarterly publication. www.loupemag.co.uk

Printed in the UK by Ex Why Zed Telephone: 01223 572569 Email: hello@exwhyzed.co.uk

Production Editor: Luca Piffaretti luca.piffaretti@gmail.com +44(0)7503634970 Features Editor: Mubeen Siddiqui mubeen.siddiqui91@gmail.com +44(0)7786538133

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Cover image: by Yi Wang for “Outside Puppets”

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The Loupemag team would like to thank: Max, Ben, Ian, Allan, Kate, Emma, Harry, Dave, Rachel, our classmates, families and friends and all the people that inspire us.

2013 © Views expressed and Images used in creating this publication belong to respective photographers and authors. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or copied without prior consent of the publisher.

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