I have been exploring the coastline of the Hoo Peninsula from the outskirts of Gravesend all the way around to Hoo St Werburgh. An area described in ‘Thames: Sacred River by Peter Ackroyd’
‘It is wild – or, rather, it has traces of wildness about it. This is not the wilderness of nature, but the wildness of desolation. It is not a human place. You can walk along the river wall of the Hundred of Hoo for miles, between the river and the grass, without encountering anyone at all.’ or by Dickens in Great Expectations as a ‘dark flat wilderness intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it’ is now a mix of old forts and ruins, some dating back to the Napoleonic wars, sheep, semi-wild ponies, gravel works, a holiday camp, Power stations, gun ranges, hulks, bird sanctuary etc. My aim has been to walk the whole coastline and to document landscape and structures within it. The project started in February 2014 and will carry on into next year as I discover more of its strange beauty and the history of the area
An important source of information can be found in the following document
http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/021_2013WEB.pdf
A project exploring what I have termed ‘Pop-up Churches’ due to their often temporary nature but are more correctly known as ‘Black Majority Churches’. These Churches are to be found all over London but I have concentrated mostly on the area immediately South of the river where a recent survey showed that there were more than 160 in Southwark alone. They are usually to be found in fairly low rent areas in commercial or ex-industrial buildings often grouped together and in one small industrial estate off the Old Kent rd I counted 9 within 100 yards of each other. Many can only be recognized as a Church because of a large Banner or sign unlike most Churches of British origin which are purpose built and recognizable through their structure alone. Many have very paradisiacal sounding names that are very much at contrast with their surroundings like the ‘Holy Ghost Zone’ 'Mount Zion' or make claims of performing miracles such as the ‘Beneficial veracious Christ Church Miracle Centre’ 'Mountais of Fire and Miracles Ministries'.
Street people & social comment, mostly London.
More can be seen at my flickr set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viramati/sets/72157623387312059/show/