Occupied Spaces

On the 15th October 2011, protestors representing the global Occupy movement set up a semi-permanent camp outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in central London. The aim of the protest was to encourage discourse and raise awareness of social and economic inequalities.

On 25 October, several UK newspapers and media outlets ran stories claiming that ‘thermal imaging’ proved that only 10% of the 250 tents in St. Paul’s Square were being inhabited overnight. I was immediately sceptical of these claims.

This series of photographs catalogues some of the communal and private spaces that were installed in the St. Paul’s and Finsbury Square camps. The traces of activity and inhabitance serve as a clear document of the utilisation of a limited space by a large number of permanent and temporary residents.

Essay by Naomi Colvin

Included in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger’s ‘The Photobook: A History Volume III’

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210 x 288mm, 28pp
24 colour photographs
Digital indigo + riso print on uncoated recycled paper
Elastic cord loose leaf document binding
Bagged in clear self-seal polypropylene
ISBN 978–0–9574724–3–3

First published 2012 in an edition of 250
Sold out at source

Reprinted in 2014 in an edition of 100
Sold out at source

Press
BBC In Pictures | The New Yorker | Propaganda Photos | It’s Nice That | Prison Photography