Diversity can be seen across London in various areas that reflect different cultural influences. The most accessible (and often overlooked) way that people quite literally digest these, is by visiting restaurants and eateries that provide cuisine from around the world. Using psycho-geography as a method to identify such locations, I discovered Fatboy’s Diner in Canning Town (East London), which is one of the few places that visually conveys vintage Americana in an authentic and unique manner. The signage reflects a nostalgic era through the use of colour, illustration and typography that at full size is impressive, making a bold statement amongst its surroundings. As photographers such as William Eggleston have captured locations at various points in time, my imagery aims to capture the ordinary event of visiting such a restaurant in a manner that explores the sublime aesthetic and scale of the location. By doing this, audiences are invited to the destination and exposed to the cultural references that it presents in a positive and engaging manner.
Vincent Kaufmann (2001), quotes Chtcheglov’s ‘Formulary for a New Urbanism’ in The Poetics of the Derive, summarising the part that psycho-geography plays within artistic processes:
‘We evolve in a closed landscape whose landmarks draw us to the past. Shifting angles and receding perspectives enable us to perceive original conceptions of space, but this vision remains fragmentary.’
capsule-blog.com 