Rough Guide

Brick Lane

Our first project was a collaborative project with the aim to create our own, beautifully unique, 'Rough Guide' to London. We were designated into groups of about 15 and each group was located an area within London to document. I've only just moved to London from Yorkshire so the project was a good excuse to really get my bearings of London, of one area anyway!

Brick lane was my area, which fortunately for me was one of the only areas id visited in London before moving here, so i could imagine the sort of things to be looking for before i set foot. I imagined getting immersed in the graffiti, or the vintage shops, but what surprised me, and particularly fascinated me, were the areas surrounding Brick Lane that were a contrasted with the bustling atmosphere of Brick Lane. A lot of my research stemmed around the residential parts and the areas that are not conventionally desirable for tourists. I found myself sitting in lots of parks, opposite schools and next to houses.

There was a part to brick lane that seemed fun and artists. Full of weird and wonderful people from all walks of life. It was the people of Brick Lane that seemed to capture the essence of Brick Lane.


Leopard Print Hat Man

A weirdly wonderful character I met just off Brick Lane. Him and his band were paying hand made, eclectic instruments in a small band stand in a park, I joined in with the playing of the instruments and made friends with Leopard Print Hat Man. This was a truly bizarre experience, one that reflecting the essence of brick lane.

The culture was an inevitable part of brick lane, packed with colour, curries and mosques it contrasted again with both the small parks and the urban scene of Brick Lane.

I particularly found the doors a fascination, they seemed to symbolize the contrast that was evident in every street you walked up. I drew and took photographs of doors that I found particularly interesting and seemed to represent something about the area. 

Brick Lane is an area full of intense diversities from cultures to ages to houses. I really enjoyed documenting the area as there was so much going on everywhere you looked. I was overwhelmed with the amount going on everyday which could be seen as a good and a bad thing. The positive thing about that was I documented vastly, recording through photographs drawings and colours  However, a negative thing about the amount going on was i found it difficult to focus my documentation and it could have appeared random at times. Next time it could be helpful to choose a few certain things to document and really explore that area in more detail. Having said that i feel my research reflected the busy and jumbled area of brick lane and reflected the lack of order that Brick Lane presented.