Every Camera in Brick Lane

The conversation about Britain these days collapses almost immediately into Brexit—that one topic that swallows everything, every meal, every tourist anecdote, every mention of the country at all. Which means everything else about the place gets buried, including the fact that London has around 52,000 CCTV cameras in operation, which is either terrifying or just very on-brand, depending on your politics.

Photographer Bradford shot model Jessica Evans through the vintage shops of Brick Lane for Sticks and Stones. Jessica moving through rails of old clothes, the particular light of East London, Bradford finding the angles—and yes, many cameras. He called the series "Smile, You’re on Camera." At a certain point the surveillance stops being paranoia-inducing and becomes just part of the texture of the city, like the fog or the pubs or the fact that someone near you is definitely eating a meal deal.

Her London—the one that comes through in these images—is specific and tactile. Racks of fabric, a moment of stillness in the middle of movement, brick and vintage and the slightly overcast everything. The city that exists when you stop arguing about what it decided to become.