Memory
Ruins

Capitalism is here. It is not only an economic system, distant or abstract, but a way of thinking, perceiving, and desiring. It shapes the spaces we inhabit, the contexts we construct, our everyday relationships, and how we assign value. It also lives within our mental models, aspirations, and ideas of progress.

This project begins with the way we have normalised the destruction of our surroundings in the name of modernisation, while losing the ability to see beyond it and becoming increasingly isolated. A conversation with Aysen Denis marked a turning point. Her involvement with Fight 4 Aylesbury, resisting the demolition of her home and the erasure it represented, introduced another possibility: repair rather than demolition, and building without eliminating what already exists. Afterwards, I began to notice these processes everywhere, often very close to me.

In England, 3,625 social housing dwellings were demolished in 2023-24, a 12 per cent increase from the previous year. The scale matters, but the stories behind those figures matter more. To understand the process, I visited construction and demolition sites in Hackney, walked their boundaries, spoke with people, and observed what was concealed by hoardings, promises, and new developments. These visits made the project possible.2

² Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (2025), Social housing sales and demolitions 2023-24, England. London: DLUHC. Available online. Accessed 22 March 2026.