Three Cities “In California they have a rule called the Safe Parking Program which is set up to allow people to sleep in the cars, because the rent there is so unaffordable that you have teachers and nurses sleeping in their cars. It’s really fucked up. There’s a huge contrast of wealth and poverty.” - Niall O’Brien, Photographer & Director. It was Blake who suggested the name ‘Three Cities’ for the burgeoning photographic series. And it was Blake’s presence that illuminated the discordance of the Santa Clara Valley. The gleaming compounds where the future of tech is mapped out versus the poverty that marks ‘Campbell’ and its neighbouring cities. The banal landscapes revealed themselves as a willing subject and O’Brien began to photograph again. From then on, each day at a certain time in the evening, O’Brien would choose to walk left or right, towards either ‘Los Gatos’ or ‘San Jose’ until he reached the end of 'Bascom Avenue’ just as the light settled. That timing was crucial – each photograph is lent the purple haze of dusk or a flare of orange as the sun sets. The selection of photographs which make up the exhibition, though small (there are thousands more he could have picked) provide a portrait of a place. They are visual metaphors of a country in flux. ‘Three Cities’ is an exhibition of new photographs by Niall O’Brien. The image-maker walked down the seven-mile stretch of California’s ‘Bascom Avenue’ each day, capturing life in Silicon Valley. You can catch O’Brien’s series ‘Three Cities’ on display at London’s ‘Sid Motion Gallery’ until May 26, 2018. #neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #words #pictures #neon #urchin #niallobrien #photographer #threecities #sidmotiongallery #london #california #siliconvally #bascomavenue #blake #exhibition (at Sid Motion Gallery)