Photo Project Documents London's Gun Crime

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By M@ Last edited 160 months ago
Photo Project Documents London's Gun Crime
Alberta Street
Alberta Street
Amhurst Road
Amhurst Road
Calvert Road
Calvert Road
Harpenden Road
Harpenden Road
Highfield Road
Highfield Road
Mount Pleasant Road
Mount Pleasant Road
Oslac Road
Oslac Road

Dissatisfied with press reports of shootings in the capital, photographer James Davies decided to document these incidents in his own way. His series of 12 images captures the 'utterly ordinary places where the extraordinary took place'. James explains the thinking behind the project:

The photos in this series were taken on streets in London where somebody died as a result of a shooting. The victim died either at the scene or later as a result of their injuries. My aim in this series is to highlight the mundane. I didn't want to find the exact location where each incident happened or go into the details of each murder. The intention here is just to show the utterly ordinary places where the extraordinary took place, forever associating a street with a horrific crime. I have had a few comments that suggest that by not photographing the exact location of the incident I am being misleading, as they suggest the part of the street I show and the murder scene could differ greatly. I found this a little macabre and also slightly out of synch with the news reports that accompany each photo in the series. There is very little effort put in to gun crime reportage in London. News reports on the topic of gun crime victims are usually just lazily rehashed press releases with no added detail. To suddenly wish to be shown the exact spot that somebody lost their life seems a bit tasteless. Also, the whole point of this series was to highlight the places that are connected by one type of crime. These streets are another innocent witness to something horrific that they can't shake off, but they do not need to be tainted with the crime they will forever be associated with.

The project complements the Murder Map initiative, which pulls together all the information on the capital's murders throughout history and up to the present day.

It's important to note that gun crime, while clearly a serious issue for London, is less prevalent here than many other comparable cities around the world.All images copyright James Davies. Visit James' Flickr set for full details of each crime.

Last Updated 16 November 2010