Strasser, Anita. 2024. Visibilising gentrification-induced displacement: a visual essay on the role of a socially and politically engaged photographic practice in housing activism. Visual Studies, 39(1-2), pp. 118-126. ISSN 1472-586X [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This visual essay has two aims. On the one hand, it is intended as a visual exploration of gentrification-induced displacement. It focuses on photographic material generated for Deptford is Changing (Strasser, 2020), a research project which exposed and politicised the emotional upheaval caused by contemporary state-led gentrification in Deptford, south-east London. On the other hand, the essay presents socially and politically engaged photography as a crucial part of housing activism. Working in dialogue with housing campaigners for a shared political goal, I photographed radical interventions taking art into the streets to enact people’s emotional responses to gentrification-induced displacement. The images thus bear the traces of collective affect. I also photographed residents in their homes, with the aim of visibilising their affective connection to place and thereby evoking the emotional upheaval displacement causes. Publishing these images together with texts, making visible and audible gentrification narratives representative of residents’ struggles, exposed and politicised the shared experience of displacement, putting pressure on the council and developer to implement change. This essay argues that a socially and politically engaged image-making practice generates alternative histories, which can disrupt dominant narratives and contribute to valuable change.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2023.2241424
Additional Information:	I am grateful to the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE) for funding my PhD research and the publication of the Deptford is Changing book.
Keywords:	gentrification, displacement, housing activism, engaged photography
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Sociology
Dates:	Date Event 25 July 2023 Accepted 11 August 2023 Published Online 2024 Published
Item ID:	33972
Date Deposited:	24 Aug 2023 11:29
Last Modified:	26 Apr 2024 15:07
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/33972

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