Sealed Up

During one of my explorations of the Heygate Estate, I heard a loud drilling sound coming from one of the upper floors. Several flights of stairs above, a small team of workers were sealing the front of a vacated flat by welding shut the doors and windows with thick grey sheet metal. This is done to prevent squatters from entering the vacated properties. The welders are called in to seal up flats within 24 hours of the residents moving out.

Inside, an old armchair had been left behind during the evacuation. The sunken seat cushion conjured up images of who had sat there and what kind of people had occupied the flat up until the previous day. I found myself wanting to rescue the armchair from the darkness of its isolation within.

The head of the welding team granted me permission to photograph other flats whilst they were being sealed. I found myself empathising with the abandoned objects and decided that I would collect one as a representative of each property. These photographs are a way of preserving the living spaces and some of the memories entombed within them.

Here is a small selection from the series.

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Keywords heygate, elephant and castle, anthony wallace, lcc, london, ant wallace