sexta-feira, 10 de abril de 2015

MEMÓRIA VISUAL | «Spitalfields Nippers» | OS MAIS VULNERÁVEIS EM FOTOGRAFIAS


«This photo of boys sitting on a wall is captioned simply “Brothers”»

Comecemos por entender quem eram os «Spitalfields Nippers»:
«Their boots barely hang together. Their clothes are ragged hand-me-downs. And for most a hot bath is a distant memory.
But in the eyes of these children there is a self-possession and a quiet confidence that belies the appalling circumstances in which they grew up.
These London youngsters lived amid deprivation, violence and squalor that defies imagination today. At the beginning of the last century, thousands existed in abject poverty on streets that are now among the most fashionable and expensive in the capital. 
They were called the Spitalfields Nippers, scavenging for rotten fruit in the bins behind the market in East London, dressing in rags that might be shared between ten siblings, and lucky to have a pair of boots in even the coldest weather.
Photographer Horace Warner took these portraits to highlight the conditions. He was the Sunday School Superintendent of the Bedford Institute, one of nine Quaker missions in the East End fighting alcoholism and prostitution». Tirado daqui.

«Joey Lyons and Nellie Slark”. Joey was born in 1896 
and worked as a boot finisher aged 14. He served 
in the Second World War, dying at 71 in Suffolk»

Depois, sobre os Spitalfields Nippers um trabalho recente que lembra como era antes do  «Estado Social»:

«The Spitalfields Nippers show the East End before the welfare state

Horace Warner's photographs of the Spitalfields Nippers shows what happened to some of society's most vulnerable - and reminds us of the value we must place on their protection». Neste endereço com mais fotografias.



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