In the noisy bustle of London’s West End, I have been looking for sanctuaries of quietness and contemplation. I found them in the back alleys and doorways of Chinatown.
At night, when the countless restaurants compete for tourists and theatregoers, throngs of visitors collide with Chinatown’s tight-knit ethnic community. By the time the restaurants open, some of the kitchen staff have already been working since early morning. Many of them are recent immigrants who speak little more than a few words of English. Some will have clocked more than 60 hours when the week is over.
Portraits of Larry Love (aka Rob Spragg) and The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love (aka Jake Black).
Founded in Brixton 1995, Alabama 3 achieved success when the producers of hit TV series The Sopranos chose the track "Woke Up This Morning" for the show's opening credits.
Pause.
London in Lockdown
On 23 March, the evening the lockdown was announced, I was on my bike, cycling through an already deserted London, astonished to experience the city like I had never seen it in the 20 years I have been living here.
A few days later, I decided that taking the camera on my nightly cycling excursions – my chosen form of daily exercise – was a safe way to document different parts of the city without endangering myself or others.
Like many others I felt compelled to document the lack of crowds in usually crowded locations. But looking at the set of images I have made over the last weeks, I feel this project has taken on a life of its own. Maybe these photos are less about the lack of human presence and rather about the stillness of a city being allowed a breather to reveal a beauty that often goes unnoticed.