Lana Durovic's photographs - of objects or environments that seem to have outlived their usefulness and yet remain in use, or of isolated trees that cling to life by deserted or derelict buildings - seem at odds with her training as an architect, responsible for creating sleek, comfortable and purposeful environments.
And yet, there is a clear link between the two. Buildings control our movements within and around them, mostly without our realising it; bricks and cement are anything but passive. The architect's job is to create a connected series of active but unnoticeable cues for behaviour, which we walk through and around without realising it. Where an anthropologist might find only a 'non-place' that people merely pass through on their way to somewhere more meaningful, an architect sees a space that actively directs those passers-by.
Durovic's photographs show those details that we are used to passing by or avoiding without realising it, which normally fail to appeal in a society which seems obsessed with a love of the beautiful, young, and new. They may remind us that life persists, however tenuously, in the most unlikely and unloved places in our world.
Refectory
Southwark Cathedral
London Bridge, SE1 9DA
info • what's on @ • map
Cathedral daily 8am-6pm; Refectory Mon-Fri 8.30am-6pm; Sat & Sun 10am-6pm
For the latest local news and events direct to your inbox every Monday, you need our weekly email newsletter SE1 Direct.