I came across this estate whilst working in an office. I went there at lunch time to photograph. What struck me most about the estate was how the buildings, the architecture, dominated everything. People seemed like reluctant actors on an almost grotesque stage. The rows of flats reminded me of the cages you see in industrial chicken farms. The people live in exactly the same way the chicken do, stacked on top of each other, surround by grey concrete. I think that there is a certain sense of claustrophobia within the estate, a constant oppressive weight can be felt, like gravity, making it hard for those who live there to get out.  

I don’t think that this work is a statement of what its like to live day to day on this estate. But then it wasn’t supposed to be. I hope, that it shows in someway that these visions of urban living that came out of the 1950’s and 60’s are a far cry from the utopias that their creators imagined. I think that this type of housing, in its stark unrelenting hardness and ugliness ultimately alienates people, not only from the natural environment, but also from each other. I’m reminded of Oscar Wilde’s visit to America.  He was asked while giving a lecture to some minors: “Why, Mr Wilde, do you think America is such a violent country?” “I can tell you why,” he said. “America is such a violent country because yourwallpaper is so ugly.”