Based on the detailed investigation of my neighbourhood, I developed a stop-motion film in which I humorously dealt with the aspect of the gentrification of Columbia Road. Inspired by the filmmaker Patrick Keiller as well as David Attenborough’s narrative about extinct species in Planet Earth, I sought to tell a story about the East Enders’ resilience and ingenuity. 

The focus was to portray the East Enders themselves as a rare and adaptive species that learns to adapt in colour to protect themselves from extinction.

With the help of an AI voice with British accent, drawings of the original shopfronts over the last few years and the protagonists such as the Resurrection Men and Angela Burdett-Coutts, the movie deals with the changeability, beauty and brutality of East London.

Transcription

Columbia Road – a street in East London known for its notorious gangsters and rough character back in the day. Now it is under the grip of gentrification. Let’s start talking about the years around 1830 when many gangs, such as the ‚Resurrection Men,’ used to rumble in this street. Known for appropriating graves or better described as ‘body snatching’ they gave this neighbourhood a thrilling and exciting vibe. The road was filled with waste, as the brick clay got exhausted in this district, and houses were prone to flooding as they lay below ground level. Some say it is good to be born in deprived times. But then a 23-year-old would come and change it all. Angela Burnett-Coutts, the millionaire heiress and philanthropist, established Columbia Market in 1869 as a covered food market with 400 stalls. She wanted to bring cheap and good food to the poorest of East London, but lacking any good transport connections, it never made any money and the East London traders and locals continued to patronise other markets. The building was demolished in 1958. When gardens became ‘fashionable’ again in the 80 and 90s, interest in the market surged. Opening Sunday instead of Saturday meant local Jewish traders could bulk up numbers. Since the 1980’s the flower market has grown into one of international repute. With each flower market passing by, the original waste smell of this area got replaced by the scent of tulips and Hyacinths. Wrestling with what we call the problem of east London, the EastEnders, which describes the original inhabitants in this area, were not used to the new romanticised idea of their neighbourhood. As endangered species but with very resilient and adaptive behaviour, the EastEnders remained fighting for their survival by using mimicry. Today by capitalising on this glamorised image of Columbia Road, they choose adaption as a way to prevail. Like songbirds dressed in the most colourful feathers, shop windows change from season to season, attacking a perpetual new stream of hipsters and yuppies. Columbia Road – from poverty-ridden slum to rainbow-coloured shopfronts and flocks of eager plant shoppers.