Deptford is Changing

Deptford is Changing was a collaborative research and community arts project as part of my doctoral studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Together with local residents of Deptford, south-east London and between October 2017 and January 2020, the project researched, highlighted and publicly enacted, the impact of gentrification and austerity politics on Deptford residents. It used a variety of creative and participatory research methods such as photography, drawing, building models, writing, workshops and walks, as well as interviews, focus groups and discussions, to enable different kinds of responses and the participation of a wide range of people. It also got involved politically, documenting campaign activities, homes and residents to be evicted and the occupation and eviction of a community garden to provide evidence and material for online campaigning. My socially and politically engaged photographic practice became particularly pertinent in platforming alternative gentrification narratives and make local voices more visible and audible.

Upon request from participants, the collectively produced materials were published on a designated research blog called Deptford is Changing. and shared widely on social media to raise awareness of the impact of gentrification on local residents, engage with multiple audiences in critical debates and increase visibility of local housing campaigns and struggles. To provide a longer-lasting and additional platform for people's voices, the material was, also upon request by participants, published in book form with the same title, with the book launch taking place in Deptford Town Hall in January 2020. All participants and many other residents and local community centres received a free physical copy of the book. The profit made from sold books was donated to local community organisations. The physical book has sold out but can be read for free online (see also top right of the page). It can also be downloaded together with my thesis on this link. My thesis Participating in Radical Visual Sociology: Supporting housing activism through gentrification and displacement research argues for a creative activist sociological imagination (2024), a Radial Visual Sociology which gets actively and creatively involved with participants in working towards social justice. My essay Visibilising gentrification-induced displacement: a visual essay on the role of a socially and politically engaged photographic practice in housing activism was published in Visual Studies in 2023.

My PhD including the production and publication of the book was funded by the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England.