W1 observations, 2020
The colourway of the project relates to the visual language of the city from the yellow lines on the black tarmac to black taxis and their yellow lights. It is also a reference to the corporate colours of Selfridges department store whose yellow and black shopping bags dominate Oxford Street’s visual landscape, as well as the vivid colours of shop signage and advertising banners.
I used themes from Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle text, and urban geography observations and concrete poetry tropes of repetition to signify consumer behaviour, relating to the idea of mass production and consumption.
Combining historical and contemporary narratives, and personal and overheard segments of conversations in Oxford Street London W1, one of the busiest shopping areas in the world, enabled the development of a reflective visual language.
Feeling oneself swept up in the energy and pace of the location was intoxicating but ultimately exhausting, this is a visual interpretation of a place of consumption and cultural interest that has a fascinating character and atmosphere.
