The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Knightsbridge. Notting Hill. Property. Harrods. Money. Bourgeoisie. Rolls. Bentley. Chelsea Tractor. White and uptight. Rich. A series of stereotypes. A series of assumptions made. A series of images: of great wealth; of London gentry, all suits and ball gowns; of the richest in society; of politicos and financiers; of big businessmen and banks; of embassies and Royalty.
‘Wornington Word’ is about none of these. It is an alternative view of a complex, multi-layered place, as told by the residents who live there and by reading between the lines of the propaganda of gentrification. In many ways a reflection of the broader trend across London, the project focuses on and celebrates the numerous overlapping communities that make up this diverse area through the lens of a single housing estate in the midst of redevelopment.
One of the most densely populated regions of the UK, a 2017 study by Trust for London and the New Policy Institute found that Kensington & Chelsea has the greatest income inequality of any London borough.
Private rent is the least affordable in London and yet these communities still exist, in many cases over multiple generations, on the same estates. ‘Wornington Word’ is a project instigated by Renegade Theatre to record and archive the history of Wornington Green estate residents from the 1960s to the present, at a time when the estate was permanently changing. I worked in partnership with Renegade, developing my own documentary response to living on the estate alongside a programme of residents’ workshops to document these stories before they disappear into London’s background hum.
‘Wornington Word’ documents through photography and oral history the little-known story of a single housing estate in Kensington, West London. Set against a background of austerity, gentrification and the Grenfell Tower fire, the estate is vividly illustrated through photographs of people and place and the residents’ own stories.
Vanessa: “There was a good community feel, very multi-cultural, especially on our floor. We had Moroccans, we had Vietnamese, we had Ethiopians, we had Africans, and us Colombians. On our grounds you would walk down the corridor and you could smell lots of nice food from all around the world. When they were allocating the [new] flats we did try [and make] it so we could be together, next door to each other because that’s all we’ve known. But it didn’t work out that way. So yes, it’s different. We don’t have that same familiarity. We are starting again. The sounds of the birds, that’s what my mum really misses here as well, because we’re high up here [in the new build], and you don’t have that. Outside my bedroom there was a massive, massive, massive tree and birds everywhere. It was a protection; against pollution, protection against everything. From outside my window you could reach out and feel the tree, so it was really close. It didn’t feel like you were in a city.” Jessica: “There was some big old trees there. I can remember when they knocked down the trees, and they knocked down trees around here recently as well. I remember thinking, ‘we need the trees and these are old trees, surely you can build round it’. I remember there being loads of beautiful bushes and trees… floral. It used to be really nice. Last year they were knocking down trees all along Wornington and down at the end of Portobello, and I just didn’t get it. [They] just want to make it like a concrete jungle, and I thought London prided itself on being one of the greenest cities in the world but you’re just chopping down all these trees. It’s a shame. It’s a shame when old trees go, because in Venture Centre in the small playground in the corner there’s this beautiful tree, kind of a willow tree. I was looking at it today, funnily enough, when I was out there and thinking that when they knock down this centre, it’s a shame, but that tree’s going to go as well. It’s hard… it’s amazing how you get attached to things that are so significant [but] you don’t realise that they’re there – you took it for granted. So when you realise, oh yes, it’s not going to be there one day, it’s quite sad. Really sad.”
The current regeneration plans involve cutting down most of the mature trees currently on the estate. Catalyst state they will be replacing these with new saplings, but most of these are in private gardens rather than the communal spaces and parks.Leslie: “The Venture Centre stood in the middle of one of London’s most atrocious, dreadful slum areas, in competition with the East End. It was notoriously not crime ridden, but just awful housing conditions. We know that we are, have always been the arse end of town – the shitty end of the stick as it were – in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, this is historically the only Labour borough, so we know not to expect much from the council, because it’s a Tory council, and Labour are always in opposition.” Peter works as a dog walker and has lived on the estate for many years. We shot a number of images together and this one was his preferred idea. I always work with a sitter to find a pose and location which suits them, to portray them as they wish. Cheryl: “Changes? Nobody likes changes. We was all in uproar when we heard that they were going to knock it down. My block, which is fortunate for me, is in phase three [of the development] and I love my little flat so I’m hoping they’ll run out of money by the time they get to me, but I know that’s not going to happen… It’s a nice quiet block I’ve been living in, and I’ve been fortunate to have good neighbours. What I used to like; if anyone in the block died you’d get someone come and knock and say “oh do you know so and so died”, and they’d collect money – you can put in 50p,10p, £5 – and they’d buy a wreath and say this is from Pepler House …” Margaret: “Golborne Road market, I mean, I sincerely hope that’s eternal. That is – the flea market part is the place where you can just possibly get a real Tiffany lamp or a really bad dose of fleas or… you know, you can get anything there and some of it’s legal and some of it’s curable, and some of it, of course, is a great bargain.” New build ‘Bond Mansions’, during construction on the site of Edward Kennedy House and Pepler House, 2018. Keith:“I don’t believe in having grass that you can’t walk on. I’m a member of the National Trust and English Heritage, and I visit loads and loads of places around the country, all over the country in fact, to do my photography and I’ve never seen anybody with a sign that says keep off the grass. But they go one step better here, they put fences around the green areas. Green areas, grass is meant to be walked on or sat on or do what you want with, but they don’t want us to do that – they put a fence around it, so we can look at it. Does that make sense? What is grass for? So, you know, I never understood that.”
You can find out more about this project and listen to the residents’ oral histories here.
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