Anita Strasser

www.anitastrasser.com

Anita is an urban photographer based in south-east London. She studied Photography at the London College of Printing (now London College of Communication) and has recently completed her Master’s in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths. She has exhibited her work internationally in numerous solo and group shows, and has participated in international multi-media arts projects. Her main research interests are urban communities and how photographic research can be used to facilitate social engagement among groups of people in a given locality. The communities she works with all have a personal relevance to her own life, which is crucial in her work.

This series is about engaging in Tactical Urbanism, in reconfiguring space through subversive small-scale activities in order to make it more liveable (Mould, 2014). The chosen space is the 2nd floor landing of the 1930s council block where Anita lives, where even basic maintenance seems to have stopped. Crumbling ceilings from recurring floods, dark and smelly stairwells with erratic lighting and grim walls all create a sense of dread when coming up the staircase, and the small-scale activities are aimed at beautifying the space. Since passage-ways have to remain clear due to fire regulations, wall space and corner spaces are used. Plants, pictures, poems, a dummy’s leg and other paraphernalia left by the bins or found in the surrounding area, or occasionally bought cheaply in the nearby market adorn these spaces, and frequent alterations are added to maintain the curiosity of passers-by.

These activities are also part of a larger project that aims to create social bonds among the neighbours living in this block.