SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND
A city’s transit system is a curious thing, holding together the populous in tunnels and metal cages for the briefest of moments. People from all walks of life, of all backgrounds and ages and creeds and social status. A petri-dish, if you like, of the place that sits above. And in spite of their differences, everyone there has one common goal: they’re all trying to get somewhere else. Some to work, some to home, others to a lover or a sibling, to their family or a friend. Some are leaving and as others arrive, crossing paths, albeit briefly. The London Underground services up to 5 million people a day. Five million lives colliding every single day, intertwining like a vine around a tree.
And so it’s no doubt that it speaks to me and many, many other street photographers. Its gravitational pull is undeniable because whether it’s the London Underground, the New York Subway the Germany U-Bahn, the tunnels beneath a city perfectly encapsulate the streets above, only in a concentrated version. A citys personality drifts and changes from district to district, each one with its own style and character and as a result it often holds within it people that gravitate towards it the most. Whereas the Underground, the Subway, the Metro, the U-Bahn's of the world, they exist to pull these personality types together, reaching out like outstretched arms, bracing each one in a hug and forcing them to connect. And the result is an enchanting concrete forest of characters, different from one another, existing together for just a few moments, before parting ways, potentially to never meet again.
This collection of images was taken between 2020 and 2022, starting as we began to navigate out of Covid lockdowns and restrictions, up until the point life felt normal again. The contrast between these two times is stark and undeniable. Isolated figures, hunched in fear and free of expression was replaced with genuine, touching human interaction. Observing the difference between the two times was an experience but it showed to highlight just how accurately a city’s underground system represents its home. Street photography above ground during the height of Covid was strange. It lacked intimacy and human interaction, something that many street photographer’s strive to capture. And this was mirrored when you went below ground too.
But not only is the way the visitors and the residents of a city interact above ground mirrored beneath, it is infact heightened, because once you remove the distractions and the buildings, the traffic and the noise and the lights, you’re left with just the people. People in cages on tracks in tunnels. And that is what an underground system represents. It’s an enclosure, free of distraction, that holds together an army of strangers for the briefest of seconds, all with one common goal. And for all the time the city is awake, that is all it exists to be.
