Jason Wilde
England
Silly Arse Broke It
Silly Arse Broke It
Built in the 1950s, the Clarence Way estate has been a focal point of London’s rapidly shifting social landscape, housing people from within Britain and abroad who have been affected by any number of diverse events and circumstances. Located a few minutes’ walk north of Camden Town underground station, the six orange brick-blocks that make up the estate, house over 1,000 people in 354 various-sized units.
Jason has lived here for 17 years and in that time he has witnessed the rapid diversification of the cultural mix of his community. In an attempt to record this transformation, Jason started collecting handwritten notes that he found discarded on the estate. On one level, these salvaged texts are simple records of the everyday; they function to remind, instruct, organise and explain. They tell of journeys planned and taken, and list items to purchase and food to take away. Some make grand political and philosophical statements whilst others are simply mysterious.
Jason has photographed these once-private texts against wallpaper backgrounds, transforming them into imaginative triggers that hint at the realities of life for a diverse group of people. These individual combinations form Silly Arse Broke It, an ongoing and open-ended narrative that invites the viewer to contemplate a small inner-city community that is a microcosm for the social flux and cultural (dis)integration that characterises Britain in the 21st century.
Jason Wilde
Jason Wilde is a photographer born and based in London, England. Since completing his MA Photography at the London College of Printing in 2002 Jason has continued to develop his documentary practice. His work has been exhibited in the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery and in the Museum of London. Growing up in central London has been an important impetus for Jason Wilde’s interest in the small dramas of city life.
As a photographer Jason’s primary topic is Britain’s rapidly shifting social landscape reflected in the people that inhabit its diverse communities. Working from within the documentary tradition, his practice incorporates various aspects of the making and use of photographs. Using elements from portraiture, journalism, still life, art, sociology and history, Jason aims to make images that reflect the social flux and cultural integration that characterises British communities in the 21st century.
