Speakers' corner - in defence of lost causes
From the outset I made two promises to myself when I embarked upon this project; to remain objective and to remain distant, unattached, and remote from my subjects. In both respects, the project was a failure. The promises I made myself fell by the wayside as the anonymity a photographer dons when undertaking any study of human interaction became increasingly worn away as my interaction with my subjects increased. Instead, what developed over time was a subjective, emotionally charged body of work, where reality that is commonly associated with reportage has been radically distorted in an effort to convey the emotional effect and to evoke the moods and ideas that the subjects try and convey.
These days, the climate of fear, tension, and distrust between religious communities has led to the death of the traditional format of discussion and debate at Speakers' Corner. Most hecklers these days tend to stay away from the religious speakers, discussion and debate can be seen as characteristic of a more politically aware period of time and like those times these characteristics have passed into posterity. The 'clash of civilizations' that George W. Bush cited in his time in office, the insidious conflicts of religion, identity, and fundamentalism are the concerns of today's' society, rather than debate, discussion, and free speech. In that, Speakers' corner is perhaps a microcosm of our society, an indicator of tensions and divide that exist in a multicultural society.
Whilst photography is perhaps the easiest of mediums in which to be competent it is, at the same time the most difficult of all mediums to achieve a distinctive personal vision. This is the main reason why the project, which was originally envisioned as straight reportage project morphed into an expressionistic exploration, where the viewer experiences the drama and the extremes of emotions depicted in my photographs.
