LONDON CALLING

2016

Solo Exhibition | John Birchall Studio | Columbia Rd | London

The first area in London known as Chinatown was located in the Limehouse area of the East End of London. The China Town is now situated just off Shaftesbury Avenue along Gerrard Street in between the gentrified Soho area and the bright spectacle of the red carpet in Leicester Square. The composition was decided to hark back to the old traditional Chinese ink scroll paintings to create the narrative as you read the image. As you drift along the street the two markers that define China Town are most notably two rickety arches at either end of the street. A place for tourists to take that postcard picture signifying their presence to what is typically seen as China Town. The area is bombarded with flashes and protruding selfie sticks to help capture that perfectly curated image. They add two fingers in the air or the squinty eyes as locals mock or shake their heads in disappointment. I tried to capture the disparity in society of which I saw while observing Gerrard Street. While on one side people are partaking in this vacuous life without meaning with their postcard pictures and on the other end of the street a homeless man stands idly by with his head planted on the lamppost. I’ve tried to capture these parallels within this piece to study further an area of constant flux.

Both the Rio on Dalston Kingsland Rd and The Screen on the Green in Angel serve parts of the community who are often ignored by the mainstream commercial cinema. When one thinks of cinemas, the image from the ‘Society of the Spectacle’ by Guy Debord comes readily to mind. Guy Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker and founding member of the Situationist International. Those 60’s avante garde movements would continue to inform Donald’s work to this day. Unfortunately these cinemas have had to concede slightly to the mainstream due to popular demand of certain films yet still stay true to the institution’s core beliefs. The artist plays with this idea to create imaginary spaces for the possibility of interaction. These two compositions show the beginnings of the artists practice where he starts to develop a more coherent language that mixes his earlier series of utopian landscapes with the black and white photography.

Trellick Tower, a Brutalist building situated on Golborne Rd, a short distance from the famous Portobello Road Market, has become a modern London Icon. In the midst of the so called social problems devised by the media, a creative duo Leroy Anderson and Ranking Miss P established a pirate radio station. Originally called ‘Rebel Radio’ and later to be known as ‘DBC’ , a play on the BBC and stood for ‘Dread Broadcasting Corporation’.

The station would soon be removed and replaced by a BBC mast. This is my homage to the creative minds that went against the grain and provided a voice for the people and to question the status quo.