Spencer MURPHY c/o MAKING PICTURES photographed the fires in Wennington as part of his personal documentary project. Wennington is a small village in the London Borough of Havering in east London. It is located 14.8 miles east of Charing Cross. The town burned down on 19 July, 2022, and more than sixteen houses were destroyed.
“It’s been four years since I last documented wildfires in Britain. These fires didn’t burn as long as the fires I photographed in 2018, but I didn’t see the destruction of property then in the way that these recent fires have brought with them. It was haunting to spend days in the charred landscapes of Saddleworth Moor and Wanstead Flats back then, but it’s undeniable that there’s something about the devastation of people’s property that makes things feel all the more real. It really is time we took notice because this weather is not normal.” Spencer Murphy.
Spencer Murphy, who was born in 1978, grew up relatively isolated in the countryside in Kent, miles away from the nearest shop or school, and often found himself with only his imagination for company and the surrounding woodland as his playground. It was a combination of this imagination and an early discovery of his mother’s back issues of Life and National Geographic that sparked an early enthusiasm for photography at the age of 11. As a result, his parents bought him his first camera, and photography quickly became a channel for his creativity. Today, Spencer lives and works in London.
Among his clients are magazines such as The Guardian Weekend, Time, Vogue Italia or even Wallpaper. His portraits are featured in publications including Rolling Stone Magazine, GQ, as well as Dazed and Confused. He has exhibited throughout Europe and North America and was named as one of the Hyeres Festival’s emerging photographers of 2008.
He has also been included in the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize exhibition seven times between 2006 and 2013, and in 2013 was announced as the overall winner. His work is now held in the NPG’s permanent collection.
GoSee : making-pictures.com
