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Back in Brixton: Urban Art Fair

Once again, Brixton opens its streets to the Urban Art fair. We got the

chance to speak to a street photographer based in Brixton about her love

for the community.

On the 9th and 10th of July, Josephine Avenue, Brixton, will have a complete makeover and

will be transformed into a free open Art Fair for the public. The Art Fair has signed over 200

exhibitors including, photographers, painters, print makers, mixed media and street art and

attracting around 10,000 people last year.

In addition, Brixton Square has been chosen as the display area for the finished nine walls

and shipping container which street artists will

create live work on. The artwork will be

displayed for two weeks, and the organisation

PositiveArts.co.uk are also hoping to create some

more landmarks on local walls created by local

artists.

With the Urban Art fair only two months away I got the opportunity to have a chat with

Rozine Jahfar. A twenty-one-year-old street photographer who is currently in her second year

studying photography at London College of Communication (University of the Arts London.)

Rozine, chose the streets of Brixton and everyday people as her inspiration for her project

capturing moments on the market to the local woman waiting for the bus in Brixton Hill.

It was on Facebook, naturally, where we began to speak about

her photography. After chatting about our similar experiences of

the nitty gritty subject of her photography and images. As a

young photographer herself, she was naturally really

enthusiastic about getting her voice and ideas across.

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Rozine says about the beginning of her project, ‘’The project started in August, I just found

myself there a lot because my brother lives there. There's so much happening all the time in

Brixton, in terms of community and vibrancy I feel like Brixton is one of the few places left

in London that has a lot of it.’’

Rozine’s photographs not only capture people

doing their everyday jobs but they also

highlight distinct things special to Brixton. Her

images capture moments that represent the

strong culture of Brixton. It ranges from the

elderly man playing on African drums, merging with the classic British ideal of the

traditional market on Market Row. Rozine’s photography also features new aspects of market

trading targeting the new business of wigs and hair extensions, with the shops she

photographed, being found in Brixton village.

Explaining the process, she says, ‘’I started photographing

people just as I walked around the market because it's full of

interesting characters. Even the noise of the market excites me.

My work started to get more meaningful once I had met a few

people from Brixton and spoken to them.’’

Throughout the years the community spirit has been strong

however with new plans to demolish housing and the infamous

arches – which could affect the long standing market stalls it’s

bigger than ever. Rozine, carefully captured the political spirit in a number of her images

illustrating the protest outside Brixton’s libraries and another one capturing a women

protesting with a sign stating ‘stop police terrorism.’ However, the most moving of

photographs for me was one that held no

presence of people campaigning but the

image of the man sitting by the road on his

phone with the words ‘’I miss my Brixton’

spray painted on the wall beside him. For the

people of Brixton, those words, so

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thoughtfully captured, can bring back a million of memories and remind us why there is so

much to stand up for!

It’s true to say that there is so much change going on in Brixton we can sometimes forget

how beautiful our area is, as Rozine explained the reasons for her photography, ‘’Brixton

may change a lot [in the future,] so the photographs I'm taking now feel a bit more like

desperate photographs, a way to grasp on to something that may look completely different in

the future.’’

After a while photographing the streets of

Brixton through some tense months, Rozine

describes why she began to stop. ‘’I stopped

photographing the people out of respect after a

while, because its so tense there [Brixton] at

the moment, I think a lot of photographers are

using the area as a way to exploit it slightly!

People basically started getting annoyed when they saw me with a camera so I thought it was

enough.’’

Describing the end of her work process she says, ‘’ I would then go back to them (the people

photographed) with my print and show it to them which helped me form a relationship with

them. I found that really rewarding because the last thing I wanted to do was to exploit them

for my own photography project purposes.’’

It’s clear to see that Rozine’s photography was inspired by the people of our area and the

passion for her work only intensified after forming relationships with the people in her

photographs. When asked what her favourite things to

photograph in Brixton was she clearly states, ‘’my

favourite things to photograph were the people that I

had asked permission to photograph, because we

ended up having chats, and with each one I felt closer

to the issue.’’

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Rozine’s love for Brixton combined with her naturally amazing photography captured many

powerful photographs, all illustrating Brixton as an area full of community, vibrancy and

tradition. To give back to the community she fell in love with she tells me that all of her

equipment was bought in local shops in Brixton, ‘’I used a canon ae-1 and photographed

using Kodak portra, and Ilford black and white film all bought from Brixton, because I

wanted to keep it all local and help the local businesses there.’’

Thinking about this years Urban Art fair

in Brixton I asked Rozine if we would

see any of her own street photography

there, ‘’I’ve heard of the art fair! But

have not yet attempted to be part of it,

perhaps in the future!’’ Even though her

own inspiring photography won’t be

there, it doesn’t mean she wont be, saying

there wasn’t a chance she would miss it.

The Urban Art Fair is a great way to support local art and artists alongside local charities and

what’s even better all proceedings from the event will help raise funds for Urban Arts charity

partners. This year this involves two local schools and the Southside Rehabilitation project.

So remember, for a day of free creativity head down to Josephine Avenue this July!

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