My London: Four Photographers Show Us Their City

Why It Matters

The projects foreground under‑represented urban narratives, prompting cultural institutions and audiences to reconsider how technology, history, and redevelopment shape collective memory in London.

Key Takeaways

• Sabrina Tirvengadum blends AI with family photos to expose representation gaps
• Eugénie Shinkle captures Rom skatepark’s decaying concrete as urban archaeology
• Edmund Clark links London’s wartime scars to contemporary counter‑terrorism narratives
• Anselm Ebulue documents Peckham’s Black community amid rapid gentrification
• Exhibitions run at Space Gallery, Peckham 24, and Imperial War Museum

Pulse Analysis

The rise of generative AI has reshaped photographic practice, but it also exposes systemic biases. Sabrina Tirvengadum’s “Beauty Fall” merges archival family snapshots with AI manipulation to reveal how algorithms default to Eurocentric features, erasing the visual histories of immigrant working‑class families. By confronting this invisibility, her work joins a growing chorus of artists demanding more inclusive training data and ethical toolkits. For galleries and collectors, the piece signals a market shift toward works that interrogate technology’s role in cultural representation.

Urban memory finds a visual conduit in the lenses of Eugénie Shinkle and Edmund Clark. Shinkle’s series “ROM” treats the derelict Rom skatepark as a palimpsest of post‑industrial London, using analogue cameras to capture concrete that has weathered into a quasi‑natural landscape. Clark, meanwhile, stitches together images of Blitz‑era bomb sites, modern counter‑terrorism architecture, and personal commuter routes, illustrating how past conflicts continue to shape everyday geography. Their photographs act as psychogeographic maps, reminding policymakers that the city’s built fabric carries layered narratives of trauma and resilience.

Anselm Ebulue turns his camera toward Peckham’s Black residents, documenting a neighborhood in the throes of rapid gentrification. By foregrounding everyday moments—street games, market stalls, communal gatherings—he preserves a cultural snapshot before it is potentially displaced by new development. This approach underscores the commercial and social value of visual archives that capture community identity, informing urban planners, heritage bodies, and investors about the human cost of redevelopment. Collectively, the four exhibitions illustrate how contemporary photography can both critique and chronicle the forces reshaping London’s social and physical landscape.