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Hardback – 245 x 295 mm – 128 pages

ISBN 9781843682080

For years Anthony Dawton has taken photographs in areas of need worldwide, but after spending some time in his home city, he noticed how many people were living on its streets. He embarked on a new project to raise awareness: NOTLondon.

Anthony Dawton photographs his subjects with a beauty and dignity that many of them are often denied. His portraits capture the strength and power of humanity as well as its vulnerability. By accompanying the image with the person’s name and their story, Anthony gives voice to the voiceless and attempts to offer the homeless a place, a home on the page. We learn how helpless the realities of many are. Governmental institutions turn a blind eye to the homeless, leaving the work up to charities. Homeless shelters are rife with substance abuse, making them a dangerous place for those trying to overcome addiction. Homelessness becomes a vicious cycle and many find it difficult to break free. Since the start of the pandemic, over 70,000 households in the UK have been made homeless.

Dawton’s photographs are mesmerising and haunting, and as we stare into the eyes of their subjects, we’re faced with reality: this is a problem that’s getting worse and needs urgent attention. NOTLondon is a riling campaign to help the city’s most vulnerable and to address the fact that, despite its wealth, the city is not providing for those most in need. NOTLondon represents the sub-strata of the city of London; the city below the unoccupied skyscraper offices and luxury lifestyle apartments. Anthony Dawton asks us to open our eyes and change our attitudes.

NOTLondon includes an introduction by Leilani Fahra, former UN special Rappor teur on the Right to Housing and the Global Director of The Shift. Having dedicated her life’s work to changing attitudes to homelessness and attacking the governmental systems and structures which perpetrate homelessness, she shares her thoughts in NOTLondon, highlighting the importance of Dawton’s project.

Anthony Dawton is an award-winning London-based photographer with extensive experience of working overseas for NGOs, photographing in refugee camps and disaster areas. His latest publication with Pallas Athene is a collaboration with Jim McFarlane: Edge of Hope, which documents the Rohingya refugees at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.