This visual essay has two aims. On the one hand, it is intended as a visual exploration of gentrification-induced displacement. It focuses on photographic material generated for Deptford is Changing, a research project which exposed and politicised the emotional upheaval caused by contemporary state-led gentrification in Deptford, south-east London. On the other hand, the essay presents socially and politically engaged photography as a crucial part of housing activism. Working in dialogue with housing campaigners for a shared political goal, I photographed radical interventions taking art into the streets to enact people’s emotional responses to gentrification-induced displacement. The images thus bear the traces of collective affect. I also photographed residents in their homes, with the aim of visibilising their affective connection to place and thereby evoking the emotional upheaval displacement causes. Publishing these images together with texts, making visible and audible gentrification narratives representative of residents’ struggles, exposed and politicised the shared experience of displacement, putting pressure on the council and developer to implement change. This essay argues that a socially and politically engaged image-making practice generates alternative histories, which can disrupt dominant narratives and contribute to valuable change.

这篇视觉文章有两个目的。一方面，它旨在对中产阶级化引起的流离失所进行视觉探索。它重点关注为《德特福德正在改变》生成的摄影材料是一个研究项目，揭露了伦敦东南部德普特福德当代国家主导的中产阶级化所造成的情绪动荡，并将其政治化。另一方面，本文将参与社会和政治的摄影视为住房行动主义的重要组成部分。为了实现共同的政治目标，我与住房运动人士进行对话，拍摄了激进的干预措施，将艺术带入街头，以表现人们对中产阶级化引起的流离失所的情感反应。因此，这些图像带有集体情感的痕迹。我还在居民家中拍摄了照片，目的是让他们与地方的情感联系可见，从而唤起因流离失所而引起的情绪剧变。将这些图像与文字一起发布，使代表居民斗争的中产阶级化叙事变得可见和可听，暴露和政治化共同的流离失所经历，给理事会和开发商施加压力，要求他们实施变革。本文认为，社会和政治参与的图像制作实践会产生另类历史，这可以扰乱主流叙事并促成有价值的变革。