Jorge – East London

 

 

 

Hackney Wick, for me, is the last of the Hackney rebel’s. When you get off the London Overground train and step down the steep walk way on to the Victorian brick lined streets, it doesn’t feel cosy and outwardly lived in, it feels like it has a secret still to be told. Myriads of warehouses are taken up by creative’s, media types and party people, who section up the cavernous spaces into live/work units and makeshift raves – initially because it was a cheap option for living in London and now because someone somewhere has said it is a cool place to live. A mutual friend introduced Jorge and me to one another over the worldwide interweb – we had a beautiful email exchange and then sometime later I found myself on a busy non-descript road in Hackney Wick, I crossed the road and there nestled in between a row of old terraces were two big gates leading to Jorge’s place. More Gorge than Jorge, this guy looked like he should be living in the John Lautner House from Tom Ford's, A Single Man, rather than an open plan converted factory apartment in East London.

WIYB: What does your bedroom mean to you?

Jorge: It is the place to disconnect from everything. I wanted it to be neutral and peaceful. And to surround myself with things that represent memories, like travel and family. I love my Carmen Miranda by Ricardo Fumanal. And my windowsill is a sort of shrine. A friend, Anna Bruder, gave the wooden flowers to me, she’s an artist and the Buddha’s are from my travels in India – Lakshmi is the goddess of work and wealth and the other one is the Dancing Shiva. The stone head is from Cambodia.

WIYB: Do you travel a lot with work?

Jorge: Yes, I’ve been to a lot of interesting places shooting travel features, mainly for The Times… Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, New York, Sweden….

WIYB: Wow, that’s amazing. Is the picture in the snow globe of you taken on one of your trips?

Jorge: Yeah, and that’s my ex-boyfriend, James Collard, he’s a writer, we used to travel a lot together on work trips. That was taken in Jaipur for a feature I was shooting for The Times, ‘Around India in 14 days’, and weirdly that picture was used in the travel feature. I sent the image of us both along with the rest of the pictures from the trip to The Times. I didn’t think they would use it! And when I opened the magazine there it was.

WIYB: It’s a nice picture!

Jorge: Hmm, yeah. I think it’s funny.

WIYB: Have you always been a photographer?

Jorge: Yes, I moved here from Madrid 14 years ago to study Photography at the London College of Communication. I did plan to move back to Madrid, but I started to assist photographers after I graduated, and then shoot, so I stayed.

WIYB: Have you always lived in Hackney Wick. No, I moved here in the summer of 2012. I was in Shoreditch for 11 years but had to move out because it became so expensive.

WIYB: What would you save if your bedroom were on fire?

Jorge: My hard-drive. And then it’s a tough one; I love my clothes… would I go for the clothes or the shrine? Shrine.

See a selection of Jorge's travel and portrait photography here – follow him on Twitter @JorgeMonederoPh

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