[jamessharrock]

THE END IS NIGH!

[jamessharrock]

This is a collection of portraits of people who run businesses out of the Brixton Arches. The names are diverse - Gappy Crucial, Budget Carpets, LS Mash and Sons, Donna Deer just to name a few - but they all share on thing in common: they're all being evicted. I started this project as I wanted to put a face on the Brixton Arches. Like so many parts of this wonderful city, these are more than mere swathes of property ripe for gentrification. They're sites of people, of culture, and of community. London is a city under transformation, and not for the better. As hipster coffee shops slowly replace the small, thriving businesses that add colour and diversity to our communities it's hard not to feel anger toward Network Rail and Lambeth Council who just voted to evict these people. I took some time to speak to some of them, like Lorne the fishmonger for instance - he and his family have been here for generations since grandfather started his busines years ago. Surely his and his family's hard work deserves some better reward, doesn't it? Sadiq Khan needs to step in and do what's right to protect our valuable, unique, vibrant, colourful and hard working small business owners in London. It's people like them who make this city great. #savebrixtonarches #brixton #brixtonarches #london #jamessharrock #jamessharrock

[jamessharrock]

Here’s a portrait of Lorne and Ian from a series on the Brixton Arches which are under threat of closure and gentrification from Network Rail. I’ll be adding more photo’s to this post soon! The shops are in the Arches directly below the railway line and in an area that is one of London’s colourful cultural gems. The shop is right beside Brixton’s Electric Avenue made famous in the song of the same name.  Lorne’s granfather started this Fishmonger’s in 1932 “L.S.Mash and Sons”and the shop has been here since then. In it’s hayday it had teams of people working there and suited as well. The painted tiles of fish were painted in 1936. 

 Lorne described to me how as a kid he used to love coming down to the shop and seeing all the excitement of the days trading. The marble slab which is just behind Lorne and Ian which was a spectacular display of all the fruits of the sea. It was marble for a practical reason as well as beautiful as in the days before refrigeration the marble slab with its airflow underneath and delivered ice was the most effective way of keeping the fish cool. I found an pic of Brixton Road around the time the shop was started to give you a feeling for how long the shops been there.   

 In the fast expanding, modernisation and gentrification of London a lot of it’s history or what I called “Londonness” is being eroded away and disappearing. It’s these small businesses in places like Brixton that are an anchor in the community and add all the colour to London. Without these places London loses it’s colour and becomes grey. 

In my searching I also came across a zebra taxi which is amazing!. There seemed to be a few Zebras in London pulling carriages and carts, unfortunately there were no photo credits attached to these old photographs.  

Please support the Brixton Arches Here’s the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/savebrixtonarches 

[jamessharrock]

Here’s the latest music video I directed for My Dying Bride for the song “Feel The Misery”

Here’s a little interview I did for the release of it that was posted on Blabbermouth 

James explains: "The concept for 'Feel The Misery' has been in my head for a while. It is loosely based on the famous painting Raft Of Medusa by Theodore Gericault painted in 1819, and when I heard the song it invoked the creative idea I had been thinking about."

Bringing the video concept into context, James continues: "In May this year I read in the news reports of a 'ghost ship' carrying 350 starving Rohingya Muslims vanishing off Thailand. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand refused to engage in search-and-rescue operations, instead pushing the boats back to sea, letting the people starve and refusing to accept the asylum seekers — similar to the story behind 'Raft Of Medusa'. It was only later in the year as we were filming the music video down around the Pembrokeshire coast that the media took a greater interest in the deaths of asylum seekers in the Med. The song has allowed me to bring to life not only issues that are currently facing us all, but a masterpiece that reflects a similar tragedy from centuries ago."

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/video-premiere-my-dying-brides-feel-my-misery/#aXq5sEPb8cEyxCBE.99

Here’s the painting “Raft of Medusa” by Jean Louis Theodore Gericault painted in 1819 that was the inspiration for the concept behind the film. We built the raft from scratch and I donned scuba gear to film the underwater scene’s with a Sony FS700 in an underwater housing. All the other footage was shot on a Sony A7s 

I had my mate Ryan Mackfall along for the day while filming to help out as co-director, which was a great as there was a mammoth amount to do in one day, including scuba diving and filming underwater which I hadn’t done before. It was also over 5 years since I’d been scuba diving. Karen Flannery from West Wales Dive Company was a huge help and managed to pull in some volunteers that we used as extras on the raft. Gemma Taplin the drowning actress was a total trooper as the water in Wales isn’t the warmest. Ryan Sharpe was on board and helping out too. Trevor Poulsum was producing for Invade Tv Productions 

We shot the music video down around the Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales and the Chapel is St Govans in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

[jamessharrock]

Last night I started a new portrait project. This is Sheila and Abraham they are both Asylum seekers from Malaysia and Syria. They've been given free bikes from a fantastic place called The Bike Project. What they do is take in donated and unwanted bikes, do them up and give them to refugees and Asylum seekers. Why they need bikes is because they can't afford to use public transport as any financial assistance given is barely enough to survive on. The place is run by volunteers and many of the people receiving bikes come back and help out. It is also a very important social gathering for many of the asylum seekers and refugees as many find London to be a very lonely place, having fled from horrible situations many find themselves alone. Sheila and Abraham didn't want to show their faces as Abraham fears family members back in Syria may be attacked. He described to me fleeing Syria can be seen very badly and almost like being a traitor.

[jamessharrock]

Rewind a couple of months to when I was on tour with the boys in Bullet For My Valentine.  On our way back to the hotel after dinner we found the locals in Santiago, Chile living it up. Kev started serenading the locals with an old battered guitar one of the locals was jamming on. 

[jamessharrock]

Just over a week ago, this was the crowd for Bullet For My Valentine in Buenos Aires. It was a damn fine show! 

[jamessharrock]

Here’s a small clip from the Bullet For my Valentine South American Tour that I was shooting. It was uploaded to the BFMV facebook page yesterday. I thought it’d be great to upload a short clip to give you a taste of how the boys are firing on all cylinders right now. The show is sounding huge! There’s a lot of excitement in the band for the new album to be out. If you’re in the US make sure you check them out on the Slipknot tour.

[jamessharrock]

From a shoot with Bullet For My Valentine for Metal Hammer. This was just before I headed off to South America with them for 2 weeks. 

[jamessharrock]

A quick post from Bogota, Colombia. Here’s Matt Tuck of Bullet For My Valentine Warming up backstage 30 mins before stage time in Buenos Aires Argentina. This was probably the craziest show of the tour. It’s been a hectic tour schedule going from summer to winter to what felt like summer again in Rio and then winter again. It’s hit a few of us with colds, but the fellas always give 110% no matter how they’re feeling and the shows have been killer. Santiago, Chile was a great time. I headed up to top of one of the hills to get in a view of the Andes with Jamie Mathias. It was a public holiday and the evening before Kev (legendary guitar tech) had a short jam after dinner on a dodgy old guitar one of the local fellas had with an amp on the street. It seems the Chilean people love to have a good time no matter what the weather’s like. There were people dancing, drinking and howling like wolves in the street. 

[jamessharrock]

Right now I’m in Santiago, Chile with the boys from Bullet For My Valentine after a days travel from Buenos Aires. The show in Buenos Aires last night was the best of the run so far. The crowd was going nuts in the best way possible with circle pits forming, crowd surfers and a huge mosh pit.I got some great footage. Before Buenos Aires we were in Rio in Brazil where it was roasting and humid. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to get out and about while we were there. We arrived around lunch of the show day and had a 4am lobby call the next day to get to the airport. I managed to get Padge and Jamie down to the beach. It was a total climate change travelling from Rio where it felt like the middle of summer to Buenos Aires which felt like a proper winter. Santiago is even colder. I had a great view of the Andes as we flew over them from Argentina to Chile. Here’s a couple of shots from Rio. 

[jamessharrock]

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[jamessharrock]

This is the work of Photographer and Film maker James Sharrock. All photo and video are copyright to James Sharrock. Any unauthorized COMMERCIAL use of my copyrighted images, you hereby agree to a licensing fee $US 20000 per image, per use. This is out of respect for the subjects and artist.

[jamessharrock]

A little while ago I was taking stills and directed a little behind the scenes feature on the set of Run The Jewels latest music video "Lie, Cheat, Steal!" directed byRuff Mercy of My Accomplice  Here’s the official BTS video . This was shot in association with VNA magazine and Phantoms of Space. Keep your eyes out for Phantoms of Space, which is a great project I’m involved with.  I’ll be working directly with a lot more musicians in the future. Copyright: www.jamessharrock.com

[jamessharrock]

A little while ago I was taking stills and directed a little behind the scenes feature on the set of Run The Jewels latest music video "Lie, Cheat, Steal!" directed by Ruff Mercy of My Accomplice  Here's one of the stills I took straight after the video was wrapped. This was shot in association with VNA magazine and Phantoms of Space. Keep your eyes out for Phantoms of Space, which is a great project I'm involved with.  I'll be working directly with a lot more musicians in the future. Copyright: www.jamessharrock.com contact: [email protected]

See the BTS video HERE

[jamessharrock]

Nergal of Behemoth photographed backstage at The Forum, London 09/12/2014 for Invade Tv . We're cutting togeather a video feature on Nergals transformation to his stage persona. Image copyright: www.jamessharrock.com 

[jamessharrock]

My studio space is in Hackney Wick and I share the building with a huge variety of different artists. I decided to start a personal project of documenting the artists in the building. The studio spaces are run by Space which provides affordable creative workspaces across London. There are street artists, fashion designers, sculptures, traditional artists, even a custom mototrcycle builder. This is Martin McGinn whose body of work is fantastic. He gave me a book as a present on one of his shows called "Shelf Life" Which were huge paintings of the interiors of supermarkets. The paintings are impressive to say the least. I'll add to this post a little later to include the other shots from his studio.