'Where Do You Go?' with artist, Ellie Laycock (extended subscriber version)

The Brixton-based photographer on gentrification, snare drums and climbing on rooftops

Every now and again we like to ask people for their personal take on London. We get them to tell us the places in the city that they turn to for different reasons: the spots that excite them, inspire them, make them feel calm, happy or just make them want to spend money.

We call it ‘Where do you go?’.

(If you’d like to read the shorter version of this issue, it’s here.)

This time it’s the turn of Ellie Laycock who we first became aware of through the Artwork of Resistance she created for the #FightTheTower campaign to stop the proposed Hondo Tower in Brixton. That giant billboard at the junction of Atlantic Road and Coldharbour Lane led us to her Signs of Development series, which in turn led us to her 1500 Days of Gentrification project… And by that point there was no going back. We had to speak to her.

As it turned out, when we did end up speaking to Ellie we ended up chatting about more than just the places she loves. We talked about her work, gentrification and displacement in London,…