The Arcades Project...

In 2018, over the course of a year, I made several trips to a shopping precinct in Shawlands, Glasgow; the Shawbridge Arcade. Among the last units operating when I arrived were the city council’s housing offices, a branch of William Hill Bookmakers and a motorcycle workshop. Here and there were signs of previous shops and businesses – Character’s Lounge Bar, a kebab shop and the New Wine church, all shuttered and abandoned. The design of the Arcade was quasi-Brutalist; car parking on an upper level overlooked an open courtyard and a concrete staircase led to a ground level with seating areas and planters. On the main façade was a sign, Shopping Precinct. Or rather, S opping  recin t.  

In the course of shooting Tilo in Real Life, virtually every location I’ve used has since been demolished, with some even re-built on. The disappearance of buildings, even entire areas of my native city, caused in me a deep-rooted anxiety I’ve carried my whole life. These losses, of my physical surroundings and sense of self, were unexplained to me as a child and, like living through war, the destruction of my home or street was an ever-imminent threat and a normal event.

~ continue

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