Stephen Gill - Signed; Hackney Wick - 2005

Hackney Wick is in east London, between the Grand Union Canal, the River Lea and the Eastway A106. I first encountered the area at the end of 2002 when I was photographing the backs of billboards. Although I had lived in London for nine years and thought I knew east London well, Hackney Wick threw me; it completely changed my mental map of this part of London. My first visit happened on a Sunday, at the market that took place in the old Greyhound/speedway stadium. The vast market wasn’t like the others I had seen before. At first glance, apart from a few potted plants, most of the items for sale looked like scrap metal. It wasn’t a market for luxury goods; it seemed to exist for people struggling to stay afloat: exhausted white goods, mountains of washing machines and refrigerators, copper wiring and other stripped salvaged scrap from abandoned buildings; piles of old VHS tapes that had been driven out of people’s homes to make way for DVDs.

That day I bought a plastic camera at the market; it had a plastic lens with no focusing or exposure control. I immediately felt compelled to take pictures and in the following years I was drawn to and attracted by the place itself, this time, unlike other works I had done to that date, the parameters of the work weren’t around a tight concept or pursuing a single interest, an obsession or an idea that had already formed in my mind, but more a geographical attraction and a fascination with the place and those who inhabited it. Although it wasn’t a “concept” as such, I enjoyed the idea that this camera would now go to work inside itself and in its environment where it was sourced. Hackney has long provided a refuge for immigrants and asylum seekers from around the world and for me Hackney Wick especially reflects the great diversity of London.

This new encounter with the place coincided with a moment in my life when I began to have fewer trusted sources of information and images, and I realized that when information is composed, negated or obscured, other feelings remain. This series captured what I believed at the time to be an ideal amount of information to evoke the spirit and sense of the place.

The market closed on July 13, 2003; it had been running for seven years. According to the food and business standards inspectors, it had been overwhelmed with stolen and counterfeit goods. The remnants of the old stadium were demolished a few weeks after the closure as part of the preparations for London’s bid for the 2012 Games. There is another side to Hackney Wick. Far from the noise and chaos, nature has managed to find and keep a place for itself. The canals and rivers and the secret allocations (known only to their devoted gardeners) shelter many birds and animals. These hidden havens have a dynamism of their own that will soon be muted by the dust that will cover them.” (Photographer’s text)

A book cited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger among the titles in their extensive history of photography books.

An almost-new copy, signed by Stephen Gill!