Amy, Peckham Road bus stop (Sunday Service series) (2013)

Chloe Dewe Mathews is a documentary photographer whose research-based practise captures the turbulent relationship between man and the urban or natural environment. Her work takes a refreshing view on matters of identity and the social fabric.
Sunday Service considers the London borough of Southwark’s black majority Christian churches. Located in small industrial estates, opposite railway stations, on busy high streets, in former office blocks and bingo halls, there are now around 240 African churches in this one London borough alone, representing the greatest concentration of African Christianity in the world, outside the continent itself.

The series includes portraits of the people who have repurposed and used these buildings, along with interior and exterior images of the spaces themselves, underlining the connection between them. By examining the shift from industrial to religious function, Dewe Mathews also draws attention to broader issues for cities like London: the increasingly rapid evolution of localities, for instance, with the attendant demands for space and pressures on populations. The apparently informal nature of these buildings reflects a dedicated approach to worship that then contrasts with their provisional nature.

Chloe Dewe Mathews’s series Sunday Service fits the Museum of London’s contemporary art collecting strand on a number of levels. A commitment to acquiring contemporary photographs and associated lens-based practices has been a stated aim for some years, with a particular emphasis on work made by women. Moreover, one of the strengths of the historic photographs collection is in work that examines the interrelationship of people and place.

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