Photographer George Georgiou travelled across London on buses, photographing the fleeting scenes he spotted on the streets outside the windows. And it’s incredible. Georgiou created ‘Last Stop‘ as a concertina book (which you can now buy!), and as a tribute to this extraordinary city. Having returned from a decade of travels, he admitted to barely recognising the place that he still called home: “The economy boomed, and then broke, and then boomed again. The wealth gap increased. Somehow, all this diversity found a way to co-exist”. Fascinated at how the city had opened up to people who, before, never had a connection to Britain, Georgiou took a train to London once a week, boarded a random double-decker bus and, from that vantage point, captured the city’s diversity and energy.
[George Georgiou]Looking at these brief encounters, it’s almost impossible not to try and imagine what was happening in those moments. “We fill in the blanks, a little like when we drive past an accident on the highway, we glimpse the crashed car and imagine the rest. How we perceive became an important element in the work.” Georgiou says. Using the double decker as a frame for the city, Georgiou explains that the upper and lower deck provide different perspectives; downstairs he was within inches of his subjects while upstairs allowed him the distance to capture the layers of the urban landscape.
[George Georgiou]“From this vantage point I was able to capture the complex phenomenon of urban stratification,” he says. “How different people use the city through the day, how new layers of architecture, signage and street furniture add to what was already there. How different social, economic and ethnic groups appropriate, shape and adapt to the city.”
[George Georgiou]“I was also fascinated by how people use public space in a big city, by that sense of shared invisibility. In sitting behind the window, I also became invisible, but the bus also gives you the privilege to see and understand the emotional content of London’s everyday movements, rhythms, and rituals.”
[George Georgiou][George Georgiou][George Georgiou]Truly capturing the heart of London ❤️ and being presented in a concertina, they can be viewed in any order, allowing the reader to create his or her own sequence within the overall structure he’s created.
[George Georgiou]We’d highly recommend having an explore of George’s websiteand book pagefor more of Last Stop and many other sensational projects.
