The area’s demeanour has been shaped by its long history of waterways, railways, industry and housing. Eastside has a visually rich mix of the historic and the new. It was already in a state of flux in 2010 and that pattern has continued: the last ten years have seen an increased social vibrance to the area along with recent changes brought about by the emergence of work on the new railway station.

The site for the latter had been cleared in 2019 and in February 2020 a press release from Downing Street confirmed that HS2 would go ahead. Consequently much of year has seen shifting patterns of road closures and inaccessible areas in Eastside: this has shaped the way the photographers worked. What they saw and felt as they took their photographs was tinted also by the recently elected Prime Minister, Brexit, Covid-19 and lockdowns.

In a previous project we had seen how Phyllis Nicklin focused on changes in the city: this project continued that tradition and the photographers recorded the area throughout 2020.

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