Photographer Jonathan Donovan is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. From his project ‘No Place Like Home‘. To listen to their stories click on any image.
Set against the backdrop of the housing crisis, No Place Like Home is a series of photographic portraits and audio testimonies of Londoners in their homes, from subways to mansions.
Haggerston
February 2016 (audio 02:45)
Rainbow and Jana met nine years ago while living on the streets. A narrow boat provides them with temporary shelter.
Streatham
December 2016 (audio 01:26)
Alex is just about to move out of a van he has been living in for the last 18 months, as a way of saving money to go travelling.
Arresting and compelling, No Place Like Home investigates Londoners’ complex emotional relationships to their diverse living situations through photograph and voice and looks at the way we form homes and the unique relationships we have to them, whatever and wherever they may be.
Tottenham Hale
April 2016 (audio 03:25)
Eugen, a construction worker, built a shack on a patch of waste ground out of discarded materials.
Westminster
April 2016 (audio 02:33)
Debs has been house-sitting for friends for eight months in central London, having lived in her previous flat for 12 years.
The contrasting relationship between the images and the audio in No Place Like Home means that the subject doubles as an aperture to explore wider themes of immigration, race, gender, and class. Establishing a dialogue between entrenched positions in society, Jonathan seeks to subvert stereotypes by using personal stories depicting the complexity of people’s housing needs, to counterbalance the oft oversimplified depictions in the news.
Bow
January 2016 (audio 02:27)
Jack is in his second year of living on his narrow boat. A “continuous cruiser”, he has no permanent mooring and so stays on the move.
Walworth
February 2016 (audio 02:53)
The demolition and so-called regeneration of The Aylesbury Estate means Carol must leave her home of 46 years.
The culmination of an 18 month collaboration with over a hundred participants and several community organisations, including Shelter and the YMCA, No Place Like Home reveals and celebrates the diversity of Londoners’ living situations – a complexity largely absent in the media – and it enlightens, moves and educates, offering a unique glimpse into community and domestic space that stays with its viewers.
Leytonstone
September 2016 (audio 02:50)
Nizar, Fatemi and their two daughters live with and care for Pat, who has dementia.
Kensington
December 2016 (audio 02:46)
Tom lives in Clementi House, once the London home of Muzio Clementi (1752-1832); pianist, composer and ‘Father of the Pianoforte’.
Tulse Hill
January 2017 (audio 01:49)
Diggz lives alone in a converted Georgian flat. He is banned from many of the newly gentrified bars and cafes in his neighborhood.
To listen to their stories click on any image.
Project By Jonathan Donovan
