All images ©David Straight
David Straight recently submitted this work called The End of London for my consideration which spoke to me not not least because I recognise the places he has photographed and admire its subject matter (the theatre of the street, newcomers to London and the alluring solitude of urban existence etc) but also because his intentions are refreshingly unpretentious and transparent. Here is his introduction to the project:
“`What am I, if not a collector of forgotten gazes?´The End Of London is primarily about my response to the world I see. And for two years it was London. These pictures are a journey through the streets of London; through gazes and moments, people and nature. To put it simply `it’s an attempt to understand the time I live in´.
My first months in London were filled with a profound loneliness and alienation. And more than that, a sharp feeling of disconnection from the people on the street, and indeed, the people from the city around them. I had not experienced this in other large cities. This felt pronounced and severe. Like a sort of sad disquiet peculiar to London."
David Straight was born in Christchurch, New Zealand 1980. He studied photography at Massey University, School of Fine Art and Design, Wellington and graduated in 2002. Since then he has been developing a personal voice in the medium and pursuing personal long term projects aswell as working editorially for many NZ magazines. He relocated to New York in January 2006, interning at Magnum Photos, and then on to London where he lived for two and half years working on this book project(The End Of London). Before moving back to his homeland of recently, he travelled to Iran which has led to the beginning of a project called - Iran: and the river meets the sea. Presently he is turning my gaze back home and making work about the idea of “home” and taking an in-depth look at his country of birth.
