This shoot with Sarah Solemani took place just around the corner from where I live. Although Sarah is now based in LA, she grew up in Hackney, London. The backdrop for this shoot was Ridley Road Market, now a bustling culturally diverse market - but once the battleground for the 62 Group, a collection of anti-fascists who stood up against the rising Neo-Nazi movement in Britain after WW2. This conflict was the basis of Sara Solemani’s BBC drama, based on the book Ridley Road by Jo Bloom.
The film deals with a part of history that I did not know about before Sarah told me about it. What is now such a culturally diverse community and market is miles away from the Neo-Nazi conflict of post war Britain.
This shoot was more a matter of walking through the market with Sarah, searching for backdrops that I felt would be suitable as we went along. Sarah, nice and relaxed in what is an environment she is used to from her younger days, easily chatted to me and the people in the market alike. One man proposed to her and I got invited to hang out in LA with her! - no doubt in my mind that Sarah is as nice as they come.
Shot for Observer New Review
