Walking along the Regents Canal the other day I noticed a half boarded up housing estate which instead of boards covering the windows had images of people staring out at me.
The estate is the Haggerston estate and it appears that at some point the estate was scheduled for demolition but that doesn’t seem to have happened just yet . People still live in the flats but those which are empty have been boarded up and not made available to new residents (what social housing crisis?)
The images are of long term residents of the estate and are part of an art project called ‘I am here’. The residents stare out at passers by as they walk along the canal reminding people that there is life yet in the estate. I suppose it beats looking at more traditionally boarded up windows but it does beg the question why these seemingly sound buildings can’t have people living in them once again.
For more information on the ‘I am here’ project click here.
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If you get a chance and feel brave…. then take a good look around the back and among the bits of street art to be found are a few by Stik, but look hard and low as most are quite worn away!!!!
Really? Thanks for the tip I’ll have a check around when I’m next up around there