community in the elephant

Elephant and Castle is one of those names that could only exist in London.  Supposedly named after a vision some (likely soused) individual once had on London Bridge, the district today is set to undergo a massive regeneration project that hopes to clear out the squatters and "less desirable" elements to make way for new buildings and better economic opportunity.  But of course there are people living there right now who will be displaced.  The nearby London College of Communication has been assigning its photography students to document the area and its current residents with the hopes of creating a record for posterity, and they will continue to do so for the next decade as the regeneration really begins to take effect.  The current batch of pictures is themed around the idea of community, and includes Thomas Ball's landscapes such as the one pictured right that seek to give a different perspective of the local high-density housing estates.  I also really like Anna von Stackleberg's "aerial" photos of the estate gardens.  The students' photographs have been collected into a book and are also on display at the Cuming Museum through March, and you can see some images from an earlier iteration of the project, "Home", in the gallery here.