Under the Arches

London, like many other major cities, has seen many changes during in this millennia. Many parts of the city has been regenerated in the name of improvement and financial benefits. The regeneration of East London has seen old properties been torn down and replaced with new ones, wasteland been taken into use and an attempt to move criminal elements out of town.  However, the regeneration of East London also means that property have become unaffordable, especially for those with a low income. ‘Blue collar workers’, people in the service industry, creatives and socially involved communities and organisations are often forced to shut or move further out of town.  

A few of the last places that were left to be used for new, small businesses or people involved in a lower paid industry were the arches under the railways. These places, unseen by people traveling in and out of town, were considered as undesirable and through the times have had reasonable rent and been earmarked for the lower paid industries and small individual businesses. As a part of the regeneration many of these races have been refurbished and prices have increased by up to 6 times the previous price. They have become trendy and unaffordable for many small and family run businesses who have been forced to shut down or move further out of town.  

Pål’s images look to document the people who work and live under the arches. He wants to document a time of change by looking at the people who have traditionally had a life under the arches and the new generation of people moving in.  

The work is predominantly a portrait series, looking at the change of generation and character of the tenants of the arches. As well as this the portraits show the environment in which the people are interacting with now and how it is changing, supplemented with other landscape images to show a place in transition.