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Reposted

Davenant 📸

@marcdavenant.bsky.social

I spent hours yesterday at the tent encampment behind the Adelphi in London and as a result have sent this open letter with a plea for a meaningful intervention to
Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk
Adam Hug @adamhug.bsky.social
@matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social
@paulabarkermp.bsky.social and Bob Blackman

A plea for a meaningful intervention - Adelphi tent encampment London
Dear Paula, Bob and Matthew
I wanted to thank you again for facilitating the display of my Outsiders exhibition on homelessness inside Parliament last year. The
touring exhibition has now had over 120,000 visitors and continues to tour. Matthew I really valued our conversation about
homelessness in the exhibition space - it was clear to me then that you really understood the issues and were determined to do
something meaningful to address the problems.
Dear Adam and Sadia
You don't know me, but I am a documentary photographer who works with marginalised communities and uses photography to highlight
social inequality. You can see something about the Outsiders project on homelessness and substandard housing here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnOdqk4req0o
Dear All
Five of the participants in Outsiders have now died while experiencing homelessness. Since I stopped the photography in 2022 the
situation has become exponentially worse both in London and in the other cities which I covered during the project.
One of the most noticeable changes has been the development of tent encampments and I am writing to all of you about the
encampment which is currently behind the Adelphi in London. I believe plans are being drawn up to get an injunction to clear the
encampment without any meaningrut Intervention to address the problems laced by the community there.
It seems to me that it is an extraordinary situation that in the wealthiest borough, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, these
people are struggling to survive against all the odds and not receiving the support needed to transition them out of homelessness and
help them become productive members of society. As a society we are defined by how we treat the poor. Regardless of the legal
position I believe that we all have a moral and ethical responsibility towards those who have fallen through the gaps and ended up
experiencing homelessness.
The people in this encampment are vulnerable and marginalised. The women have all been sexually assaulted or subjected to violence
while sleeping rough in London. They rely on the men in the encampment for their safety and if the camp is simply cleared, they will end
up back on the street with no safety net, likely being subjected to ongoing sexual abuse and exploitation.
People in the camp have both mental and physical health needs which need to be addressed. One has diabetes, has open sores on his
legs and is likely to suffer amputations, blindness and possibly death via diabetic coma unless this is addressed. There are mental
nean ana suostance abuse chauenges as wel. However overa nis is a close knit communit wrich nas become ponded togeter ov
the power of a shared experience. Disbanding the camp with no plans for transitioning the occupants into a stable home would be cruel
and irresponsible.
The people in the camp also rely on their dogs to provide emotional support. One of the worst things about sleeping rough is being
ignored and treated like something less than human. Having something to love and which will love you back unconditionally can be the
difference between life and death for someone in their situation. All of them have been told they will have to give up their dogs to get
support. I believe that to be an inhumane and unreasonable position to take.
There is a desperate need for a multidisciplinary intervention with this camp. If you bulldoze it you will break the bonds within the
community ana simply move the problem somewnere else. It isn t a solution to what nas become a nuge problem tor society and is a
test for your humanity as the people with the power to change things.
Collectively you control billions in spending, control the public policy on homelessness and housing and do have the power to intervene
and ensure a positive outcome for the people in this camp. I have attached some portraits taken yesterday and would urge you to look at
them and consider how you would feel if they were members of your family who had fallen on hard times. I know that with a sweep of a
pen you can simply have them moved on but would ask you to consider whether there is a different approach and who gains from simply
sweeone unese oroolems under ine caroet.
Experience has taught me to have very low expectations when it comes to asking for support like this in a society which knows the price
or everything ana the value or little, but i belleve that you are all good people who came Into public service with the best of Intentions
and hope you can find it in your hearts to help.
Thank you all for reading this and I hope something can be done.
Best
Marc Davenant

November 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM

Reposted

Andrew Janjigian

@wordloaf.org

I used to make cyanotypes myself (back before bread took over my life). Someday I will again.

a cyanotype print of a barefoot, dark-haired woman in a white, flowing dress, twirling against a white-painted brick wall, with a shaft of sunlight coming in from the lower right.

November 18, 2025 at 8:30 PM

Reposted

Diana Matisz

@dianamatisz.bsky.social

For today's #BlueSkyArtShow #Evening #photography #photographersofbluesky #EastCoastKin

November 8, 2025 at 12:54 PM

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Brian Groom

@groomb.bsky.social

Mrs D Cheatle of 16 Athol Road, Sheffield, operates a Capstan lathe at a munitions factory, 1942 (Imperial War Museum).

September 22, 2025 at 7:37 AM

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Rebecca

@rebeccafpainter.bsky.social

It's always really special to be commissioned to paint a portrait that will hang in space where it will be seen for hopefully generations to come. I finished this last year of the retiring headmaster Martin Priestley of The Leys school. Grateful to finally be able to share it!
Oil on linen.

September 6, 2025 at 7:30 AM

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Photography and Art Gallery

@u42.co

#Saint-Geniès-de-Fontedit

Taken in #France using vintage lenses in 2025 by #©SteveC #Photography #notAI

September 3, 2025 at 4:53 PM

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History and Heritage Yorkshire

@handhyorkshire.bsky.social

I am not always a fan of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's portraits. His landscapes though are a different matter and I'm happy to post this again. He captures the often smokey and murky Whitby perfectly. This dates to around 1890 and I would think it is probably around November.

September 3, 2025 at 5:29 PM

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Brian Groom

@groomb.bsky.social

Shire Horse Sale, Denby Dale, west Yorkshire, 1989, photo by Don McPhee.

August 30, 2025 at 6:05 PM

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Davenant 📸

@marcdavenant.bsky.social

If you are in Norfolk and want to see the Outsiders exhibition it opens next in Cromer on 29 August at the Artspace on the Prom.

Poster with the following text
OUTSiDERS
Journeys through homelessness by Marc Davenant
"As unflinching and brutal as McCullin, yet equally tender. I hope
others feel the latent and righteous anger I do"
Cromer
ARTSPACE
north norfolk
29 August to 14 September 2025
Cromer Artspace on the Prom
West Promenade
Cromer NR27 9FA
https://cromer-artspace.uk
ARTS COUNCIL
ENGLAND

August 21, 2025 at 6:28 AM

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NDR

@nicoladavisonreed.bsky.social

Leave The Weeping To The Trees

August 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM

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NDR

@nicoladavisonreed.bsky.social

Mother Nature always heals

.TenderLands.

August 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM

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History and Heritage Yorkshire

@handhyorkshire.bsky.social

One of my favourite of the images of Sheffield created in the early 20th century by prolific artist Walter Hayward Young (1868-1920) for postcard manufacturer Raphael Tuck. He often signed his work by the pseudonym Jotter. The accompanying text on the reverse reads "Many

August 14, 2025 at 6:34 PM

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Bertrom.

@bertrom.bsky.social

Illustration: Ben Jennings.

August 11, 2025 at 9:17 PM

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Amnesty International UK

@amnestyuk.bsky.social

Amnesty strongly condemns Israel’s targeted killing of journalists Anas al-Sharif, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa, Mohammed al-Khalidi, Mohammed Noufal and Mohammed Qreiqeh by Israeli forces, on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Sunday.

August 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM

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Bertrom.

@bertrom.bsky.social

Living in Liverpool in the 1830-40s, Henrietta was witness to the vast social schisms between rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, immigrant and non-immigrant. Her diary only tantalisingly, and somewhat inadvertently, reveals her thoughts and feelings.

www.livpost.co.uk/i-spend-too-...

‘I spend too much time on trifles’: a glimpse of Victorian Liverpool through the diary of a ‘serious’ woman

An era of sailing ships, grief and self denial

www.livpost.co.uk

August 9, 2025 at 8:02 AM

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Davenant 📸

@marcdavenant.bsky.social

Alice Clark, a doctor and volunteer for the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, waits to be arrested as a terrorist for holding up a sign opposing the genocide in Gaza and the proscription of Palestine Action.
It is strange with how little note a country may drift into authoritarianism.

A person with their eyes closed waits to be arrested

August 8, 2025 at 7:51 AM

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Scott Cunningham

@scottbath.bsky.social

Two bridges
#EastCoastKin
#Scape
#PhotoghraphersUnited
#LandscapePhotography
#Misty
#Mood
#Foggy
#Bridges
#Water

August 7, 2025 at 10:25 AM

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Davenant 📸

@marcdavenant.bsky.social

Two concerned citizens are arrested as terrorists, and put in handcuffs, for the heinous crime of holding up cardboard signs opposing the genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile the Israeli government starves the people of Gaza to death, and uses their children as target practice, with total impunity.