Sugarcoated Island

by Luca Piffaretti

The area stretching from the mouth of the River Lea to Stratford is changing in stages. Once-hectic industrial zones are morphing into urban wasteland, while warehouses, scrapyards and shrinking pockets of nature are being transformed into mixed-use developments. Perimeter fences have appeared and cranes dominate the skyline, adding to the sense of a palimpsest constructed from layers of evolution. This area was once made up of noisy and labour-intensive docklands and warehouses, and this work considers whether the most recent changes are paying tribute to its historical heritage, or attempting to hide it under a fresh coat of paint.

This series is part of the collective project Londons, The Polycentric City curated with Mass Collective as a collaboration between eight photographers documenting the growing satellite centres of the British capital and their urban identities from eight different perspectives, rejecting a single, monolithic view in favour of a fragmentary, multifarious mosaic.