Picturing High Streets was a three-year project delivered by Photoworks to create a contemporary picture of England’s high streets through artist residencies and a public call out. It was part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, and produced in partnership with GRAIN Projects, Impressions Gallery, Open Eye Gallery, London College of Communications, Photofusion, QUAD/FORMAT, Redeye, ReFramed and The Photographers’ Gallery.
From September 2022 to September 2023, people across England responded to themed fortnightly challenges and submitted their photographs on Instagram under the hashtag #PicturingHighStreets. All entries created an unofficial archive documenting a year in the life of the English high street on Instagram, and a selection form this permanent collection in the Historic England Archive.
This photograph was selected to represent the theme ‘High Street Heroes’. The brief for this theme was: ‘These portraits celebrate the everyday heroes who make our places special. From café owners offering free food for those in need to market traders brightening our days, whatever the weather. These people are the beating heart of our high streets. ’
The photographer wrote the following text to explain how their image relates to this theme: "Seth has a stall serving really, really tasty kebab rolls on the High Street. Getting a portrait of Seth is a tricky affair, especially with a large format camera. The queue for his kebab rolls often stretches along the High Street for several meters (yes the wait is worth it), so I had to be quick and ask him for one during a rare lull in service. When samosas and spring rolls were still on the menu I’d sometimes see him top up the spring roll pastry from our own shop, @milagrosafoods."
This is part of the Volume: HEC01/128/02/02 Picturing High Streets: Mass Participation Project - High Street Heroes; within the Sub Series: HEC01/128/02 Picturing High Streets: Mass Participation Project; within the Series: HEC01/128 Picturing High Streets; within the Collection: HEC01 Historic England
© Lloyd Ramos
Photographer: Ramos, Lloyd
21st Century Take-Away, People Posed
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