A collection of photographs capturing life in Elephant and Castle, south London, is being exhibited at Southwark’s Cuming Museum on now until 21st April 2012. The exhibition features photographs by 13 students from the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography course at the London College of Communication (LCC), and is part of an ongoing project to record the 1.5bn regeneration of the area and document living history.

'Re'cycling at the Elephant, Open for Business' by Wing Ki Lee

The exhibition and accompanying book, entitled Elephant in Focus: Economy, includes photographs of locals ranging from shoppers and market traders to the occupants of new apartment blocks, such as O – Central. One student, Marta Moreiras, who has taken intimate portraits of the insides of people’s fridges describes them as “a visual way to show the multicultural nature of the area.” Other photographs depict the once occupied Heygate Estate and the new forty-story residential Strata Tower.

Patrick Sutherland, Project Director and Reader in Photojournalism at LCC, says:  “Each year a different group of students is sent out into the locality to make fresh work. The result is a statement about the Elephant but also about the processes, potential and partiality of all forms of documentary photography.”

Elephant in Focus: Economy is the third book in a series that includes Home and Community. The books are the product of the College’s Elephant Vanishes project supported by Southwark Council, Getty images and C3 Imaging. A website www.theelephantvanishes.com will be launched later in 2012.

Exhibition details:

Elephant in Focus: Economy
6 March – 21 April 2012
The Cuming Museum, Old Town Hall, 151 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1RY

Exhibition Events:

Elephant in Focus: Meet the Photographers
Thursday 15 March, 6pm
The Cuming Museum, Old Town Hall, 151 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1RY
Come along and meet the photographers to discover their experience of documenting the Elephant and Castle

For further information visit the Cuming Museum website.