The best thing about this city are the people who live here. There are almost 9 million of us, and while it can feel lonely trying to navigate the hellscape that is rush hour at Bank, there are amazing Londoners building tight-knit communities all over the capital. For a new exhibition at the Southbank Centre, photographer Liz Johnson Artur has turned the lens on to some of the groups creating those links – in this case, south of the river.
‘London Is Love’ visits a few of the communities making London more welcoming, including Camberwell’s super-inclusive LGBTQ+ venue The Chateau, creative collective Born N Bread, and Ebony Horse Club: a riding centre in Brixton for disadvantaged young people. You’ll also spot Archbishop’s Park Gardening Club – a Lambeth project that provides a calming space for adults with mental health issues – and Coldharbour Lane’s secondhand institution Bookmongers of Brixton among the array of photographs on display across the Southbank Centre.
Show these pictures to your grumbling relative who thinks London types are mean, unfriendly and self-obsessed. Take that, Nan.
‘London Is Love’ is at the Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall until Jan 7
All photographs: by Liz Johnson Artur and commissioned by Southbank Centre
