What started in 2011 as a 12 month project to photograph participants in the Ministry of Culture’s Artist in Residence programme, has resulted in a collection documenting more than four years of visiting Slovenian artists to London. Mike Crawford’s 52 portraits, ranging from painters and poets to fashion designers and film directors (Almira Sadar, Nikolai David
What started in 2011 as a 12 month project to photograph participants in the Ministry of Culture’s Artist in Residence programme, has resulted in a collection documenting more than four years of visiting Slovenian artists to London. Mike Crawford’s 52 portraits, ranging from painters and poets to fashion designers and film directors (Almira Sadar, Nikolai David Jeffs, Jani Virk, Lidija Dimkovska, Urša Vidic, Maja Malus, Sanja Janša, Maja Dolores Šubic, Miha Boljka, Barbara Jurkovšek, Živa Žitnik, Sašo Sedlacek & Lada Cerar, Jernej Forbici, Polona Kasal, Mihail Hodin, Anita Voljčanšek, Natalija Sultanovam, Ravil Sultanov, Rok Govednik, Jasmina Klančar, Tanja Lazetič, Marina Gumzi, Peter Mavrin, Janez Dovč, Jana Bauer, Amir Murtovič, Mateja Bučar, Majda Koren, Oto Rimele, Tjaša Mavrič, Aleksandra Balmazovič, Mojca Pišek, Aleš Šteger, Ana Baric Moder, Valerija Cokan, Dejan Lapanja, son:DA (Miha Horvat, Golec Metka), Sašo Vrabič, Stanka Hrastelj, Mitja Mlakar, Ana Lasić, Veronika Dintinjana, Rok Vevar, Katarina Avbar & Peter Dekleva, Diana Koloini, Jedrt Maležič, Damjan Kozole & Emil Kozole, Alan Hranitelj, Petra Hazabent, Ljupčo Todorovski & Zarja Vintar, Terra Urbana (Saša Kladnik, Mateja Benedetti & Greta Godnič), Jana Putrle Srdič, Jazoo (Tomaž Pačnik & Matjaž Mlakar), Rok Marinšek & Olga Košica, Jaša Kocel), have been photographed in an array of locations in and around the Shoreditch area, reflecting the diversity of this vibrant and historical part of East London.
Shoreditch dates back to pre-medieval times. While the origin of it’s name cannot be confirmed, it probably derives from ‘Sewer Ditch,’ given that once the surrounding land was a collection of bogs and marshes. Its parish church was founded in the 12th Century, while the first known playhouse in England, eponymously named ‘The Theatre,’ was opened in 1576 close to Curtain Road where the Artist in Residence apartment is located. William Shakespeare performed many of his plays, both here and in the nearby Curtain Theatre, the remains of which were discovered during archeological excavations in 2012. Being outside the puritanical control of the City of London, the Tudor theatres flourished, as did the many taverns, drinking dens and brothels giving Shoreditch a reputation for crime, dissention and lawlessness.
Shoreditch, and its neighbouring districts, have always been places of transition. Huguenots settled in the area in the late 17th Century, fleeing religious persecution in France. Two hundred years later, over 150 000 Jewish refugees from Eastern and Central Europe emigrated to London, most to this part of the East End, while the 1970s saw thousands of Bengali immigrants move into what was by then one of the poorest and desolate districts of inner London.
In recent years, Shoreditch has become a textbook example of the gentrification process. This begins in a rundown part of town; popular with artists and other creatives for cheap rents and empty work spaces. It ends with this community, having given the area it’s colour and glamour, forced out by the onslaught of expensive restaurants, designer shops and other businesses that can afford the increasing property prices. Where once there was a handful of traditional pubs, now there are streets of artisan coffee shops, trendy bars and late night clubs, providing a boisterous night life, the like of which not seen since Shakespeare’s day.
The district has also become synonymous with designers, web related businesses and prospective digital start-ups, though it is predicted that only the most successful will be able to afford to stay, just as only the relatively wealthy will continue to live there. The musician Matt Johnson, a long time resident, in 2013 described these collective changes as like ‘Magaluf by night and the Klondike by day.’
In choosing the streets of Shoreditch as the location for his portraits, Crawford hopes to give the viewer a distinct impression of this very individual part of London. Not only to use it as a backdrop to his subjects, being a subtle reference to theatrical illusion, but also to portray the area which to each visiting artist is home for a month. The programme has provided numerous Slovenians the opportunity to both learn about the culture of London and to creatively react to it. In return, by producing this body of work and meeting so many established and emerging Slovene artists, it has given the photographer a far deeper understanding and appreciation of the importance of culture to Slovenia and the diversity of its artists.
Biography
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, lives and works in London. Mike Crawford is a photographer and specialist photographic printer working primarily in portraiture and urban landscape. His practice combines both analogue and digital techniques and has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. He has run Lighthouse Darkroom for over 20 years, working for many leading photographers on numerous exhibitions and publications. In addition, he has lectured at several Universities and Institutes and is the author of four technical photographic books and over 70 articles for various photographic magazines.
Organised by Kino Šiška in the scope of Month of photography 2016 festival.
