In T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land – probably the most important poem of the 20th Century – London is the “Unreal City” in which most of the characters in the poem have their entrances and exits.
International award winning photographer Adriaan van Heerden’s beautiful fine art photography project takes inspiration from Eliot’s great poem to present a topical, poignant and challenging view of London at a highly significant time in its history.
Unreal City, in essence, is a photographic conversation with The Waste Land. It comprises 85 black and white photographs which present London as if it were the waste land. The book reflects many of the themes of the poem: a strong sense of alienation; people’s inability to connect meaningfully; the cruel demands of the city; the failure of religion to provide comfort in this broken world; and the apparently unbridgeable divide between rich and poor.
Homelessness and the waste of young lives due to crime feature as themes in the book. The dark humour which is evident in several of the pictures emphasizes the “unreality” of life in the capital, but also holds out a few rays of hope that all may not be lost.
The book contains essays by Van Heerden, Whitbread Award winning poet Dr Bernard O’Donoghue, and London gallerist Laura Noble.