The marketing campaign ‘London Is Open’, launched after Brexit, maintains that London remains entrepreneurial, international and full of creativity and possibility. According to City Hall, the one million foreign nationals in London will always be welcome.

But my experience in London does not fit the description above. London is a city of two faces: of tight-knit communities, but also of homelessness and social segregation; of comfort and security, but also of crime; a face that celebrates multiculturalism, but also has racial tension. Walking in the City: Open and Closed in London is a mix of illustration and personal reflection of cultural imaginaries. The project draws upon the physchogeographical idea of a derive - a spatial and conceptual investigation of cities through roaming. It is a playful, constructive behaviour focussed on the effects of the urban environment on feelings and emotions. 

The project splices together real and imagined experiences to create narratives of London through text and images. The narratives represent my personal reflections of the cultural imaginaries I see in the stories that London tells itself.