Prix Pictet ‘Hope’ Cycle Nomination

E20 12 Under Construction series has been nominated for the Prix Pictet ‘Hope’ cycle.

My project E20 12 Under Construction is a body of work created between 2009 and 2013, which examines the changing social and physical landscape of a formerly neglected industrial area of East London in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics.

The series of photographs explores the shared efforts of the diverse workforce who literally built the Games with a collection of portraits shown alongside highly detailed aerial landscapes shot from a helicopter.

The International Olympic Committee was founded by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 with the belief that sport can contribute to peace and the harmonious development of humankind. And while our focus of the Olympics is mostly on the athletes and their shared endeavours to unite people and nations, my aim was to show what is usually invisible: a dramatic transformation of a landscape along with the unknown faces of those ordinary workers hidden from public view.

For me, the key was to create a personal and engaging dimension by juxtaposing the landscapes and portraits, showing how both the employment of so many people, as well as the development of infrastructure, housing, parks, schools and businesses, meant true and tangible hope for so many. As it turned out, once the Games had started, that feeling of inspiring energy and positivity swept across the whole of Great Britain.