Brixton Street Studio

Alison Locke and Cris Anderson
9 September 2005 to 7 October 2005

Brixton Street Studio is the work of documentary photographers Alison Locke and Chris Anderson: a photographic portrait of the unique cultural diversity of Brixton’s community.

Brixton Street Studio investigates the sense of identity and place of this urban community by building upon the wide tradition of studio portraiture around the world, and bringing it onto the street.

Locke and Anderson photographed a broad section of Brixton people going about their ordinary lives against hyper-real, idealised painted backgrounds that transport them out of their everyday context. 198 Gallery exhibited a wide selection of these compelling images.

Brixton Street Studio contributed to a historical perspective: the work of earlier Lambeth studio photographers, including Harry Jacobs, whose portraits depicted the community from the 1950s to the 1990s, were exhibited with Locke’s and Anderson’s photographs.

The Brixton Street Studio portraits will be integrated into Lambeth Archive’s collection and document today’s Brixton unique cultural diversity by becoming its new living archive. The project was extended by Tate Modern for the long weekend festival, May 2006.