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Rosie Shopland: SHO15444976
Back in Brixton: Urban Art Fair
Once again, Brixton opens its streets to the Urban Art fair. We got the
chance to speak to a street photographer based in Brixton about her love
for the community.
On the 9th and 10th of July, Josephine Avenue, Brixton, will have a complete makeover and
will be transformed into a free open Art Fair for the public. The Art Fair has signed over 200
exhibitors including, photographers, painters, print makers, mixed media and street art and
attracting around 10,000 people last year.
In addition, Brixton Square has been chosen as the display area for the finished nine walls
and shipping container which street artists will
create live work on. The artwork will be
displayed for two weeks, and the organisation
PositiveArts.co.uk are also hoping to create some
more landmarks on local walls created by local
artists.
With the Urban Art fair only two months away I got the opportunity to have a chat with
Rozine Jahfar. A twenty-one-year-old street photographer who is currently in her second year
studying photography at London College of Communication (University of the Arts London.)
Rozine, chose the streets of Brixton and everyday people as her inspiration for her project
capturing moments on the market to the local woman waiting for the bus in Brixton Hill.
It was on Facebook, naturally, where we began to speak about
her photography. After chatting about our similar experiences of
the nitty gritty subject of her photography and images. As a
young photographer herself, she was naturally really
enthusiastic about getting her voice and ideas across.
Rosie Shopland: SHO15444976
Rozine says about the beginning of her project, ‘’The project started in August, I just found
myself there a lot because my brother lives there. There's so much happening all the time in
Brixton, in terms of community and vibrancy I feel like Brixton is one of the few places left
in London that has a lot of it.’’
Rozine’s photographs not only capture people
doing their everyday jobs but they also
highlight distinct things special to Brixton. Her
images capture moments that represent the
strong culture of Brixton. It ranges from the
elderly man playing on African drums, merging with the classic British ideal of the
traditional market on Market Row. Rozine’s photography also features new aspects of market
trading targeting the new business of wigs and hair extensions, with the shops she
photographed, being found in Brixton village.
Explaining the process, she says, ‘’I started photographing
people just as I walked around the market because it's full of
interesting characters. Even the noise of the market excites me.
My work started to get more meaningful once I had met a few
people from Brixton and spoken to them.’’
Throughout the years the community spirit has been strong
however with new plans to demolish housing and the infamous
arches – which could affect the long standing market stalls it’s
bigger than ever. Rozine, carefully captured the political spirit in a number of her images
illustrating the protest outside Brixton’s libraries and another one capturing a women
protesting with a sign stating ‘stop police terrorism.’ However, the most moving of
photographs for me was one that held no
presence of people campaigning but the
image of the man sitting by the road on his
phone with the words ‘’I miss my Brixton’
spray painted on the wall beside him. For the
people of Brixton, those words, so
Rosie Shopland: SHO15444976
thoughtfully captured, can bring back a million of memories and remind us why there is so
much to stand up for!
It’s true to say that there is so much change going on in Brixton we can sometimes forget
how beautiful our area is, as Rozine explained the reasons for her photography, ‘’Brixton
may change a lot [in the future,] so the photographs I'm taking now feel a bit more like
desperate photographs, a way to grasp on to something that may look completely different in
the future.’’
After a while photographing the streets of
Brixton through some tense months, Rozine
describes why she began to stop. ‘’I stopped
photographing the people out of respect after a
while, because its so tense there [Brixton] at
the moment, I think a lot of photographers are
using the area as a way to exploit it slightly!
People basically started getting annoyed when they saw me with a camera so I thought it was
enough.’’
Describing the end of her work process she says, ‘’ I would then go back to them (the people
photographed) with my print and show it to them which helped me form a relationship with
them. I found that really rewarding because the last thing I wanted to do was to exploit them
for my own photography project purposes.’’
It’s clear to see that Rozine’s photography was inspired by the people of our area and the
passion for her work only intensified after forming relationships with the people in her
photographs. When asked what her favourite things to
photograph in Brixton was she clearly states, ‘’my
favourite things to photograph were the people that I
had asked permission to photograph, because we
ended up having chats, and with each one I felt closer
to the issue.’’
Rosie Shopland: SHO15444976
Rozine’s love for Brixton combined with her naturally amazing photography captured many
powerful photographs, all illustrating Brixton as an area full of community, vibrancy and
tradition. To give back to the community she fell in love with she tells me that all of her
equipment was bought in local shops in Brixton, ‘’I used a canon ae-1 and photographed
using Kodak portra, and Ilford black and white film all bought from Brixton, because I
wanted to keep it all local and help the local businesses there.’’
Thinking about this years Urban Art fair
in Brixton I asked Rozine if we would
see any of her own street photography
there, ‘’I’ve heard of the art fair! But
have not yet attempted to be part of it,
perhaps in the future!’’ Even though her
own inspiring photography won’t be
there, it doesn’t mean she wont be, saying
there wasn’t a chance she would miss it.
The Urban Art Fair is a great way to support local art and artists alongside local charities and
what’s even better all proceedings from the event will help raise funds for Urban Arts charity
partners. This year this involves two local schools and the Southside Rehabilitation project.
So remember, for a day of free creativity head down to Josephine Avenue this July!
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