Situated on the eastern edge of London, Ilford occupies a shifting space between city and suburb, Essex and the capital. Once a market town, it was transformed by the arrival of the railway and the rapid suburbanisation of the twentieth century. Successive waves of migration have made it one of Britain’s most culturally diverse towns, while ongoing redevelopment and the Elizabeth Line continue to reshape its social and physical landscape. Despite its proximity to central London, Ilford has often remained culturally overlooked. Photography is also embedded in Ilford’s history. The town gave its name to Ilford Photo, whose photographic papers and films have played a significant role in photographic practice internationally. Yet Ilford itself has rarely featured prominently within representations of Britain, making it a productive place through which to consider memory, migration, class, suburbanism and belonging.
Ilford, Forever is an ongoing photographic project reflecting on the complicated relationship between identity and place. Growing up in Ilford, I left to study photography at the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, later returning out of necessity. As a teenager, Ilford often felt like somewhere to leave behind; central London represented possibility, escape and self-invention. The work has also been informed by the music of fellow Ilfordian Dev Hynes (Blood Orange), whose writing frequently returns to questions of memory, identity and belonging. His reflections on Ilford acknowledge the contradictions of a place that can be both formative and difficult to reconcile with.
The photographs move between the ordinary and symbolic: suburban streets, architecture, everyday encounters and spaces caught between permanence and change. Rather than resolving my relationship with Ilford, the work embraces its ambiguity, asking whether we ever truly leave behind the places that shaped us.
