Faces in the crowd

August 2, 2006 3:11 AM

A Thousand FacesPhotographer Hal Satterthwaite photographed a thousand people in Walthamstow, which is in north-east London. It's a multi-racial, multi-cultural area, and the photographs reflect this beautifully. Related article from The Times.

I had intended to link to various pictures, but for me the delight was finding the faces I liked best by browsing the site. I even found a friend in there.
posted by essexjan (15 comments total)

I like this, partly because it feels so... boring? Normal, perhaps. The article in The Times says that the artist wanted to make a point about how successful racial integration has been here in London.

I probably wouldn't ever look around this place and ever think 'Wow, what an amazing example of racial integration'. But if you think about it, while it's true that there are a few areas where things could be better, on the whole things could be much much worse. I guess it's one of those aspects that is most successful when you don't notice anything.

Looking at all those different faces, it just feels completely un-noteworthy that there's a whole bunch of different races in there, at the same place, smiling. A cliched, twee observation, I know. But it's got to be a good thing.
posted by chrismear at 4:11 AM on August 2, 2006

This is just what people in England look like!
posted by BackwardsHatClub at 4:52 AM on August 2, 2006

BackwardsHatClub, that's exactly what I was thinking. This site took me straight back to being in Walthamstow on a sunny day, having a pint and smoking cigarettes from a flip-top pack of ten before trying to win ten quid on the Monopoly machine. Nice post.
posted by bunglin jones at 4:58 AM on August 2, 2006

I like the way alphabetising the surnames gives you a clump of Arabic people at the beginning of the alphabet and a clump of Chinese at the end, and occasional family groups.
posted by handee at 5:34 AM on August 2, 2006

I totally missed the race thing. I just thought that the photographer had taken care with every face (and that the internet meme of less interest in dentists than those across the pond seems to be true) and that so much personality came across, and feeling of the moment, irritated, blissful, amused, distracted.


In short, wow! I really loved this website.
posted by b33j at 6:06 AM on August 2, 2006

Good stuff, though I'd've liked to have seen more of Walthamstow along with the residents. (A friend has lived there for a couple of years, and I've come to really like the place)
posted by jack_mo at 7:47 AM on August 2, 2006

love these--thanks!
posted by amberglow at 8:31 AM on August 2, 2006

Great post essexjan. I'm a little disappointed he didn't snap me though. Maybe we should use this post to rally support for a Walthamstow MeFi meet up!
posted by MrMustard at 8:43 AM on August 2, 2006

What a good idea, MrMustard!
posted by essexjan at 9:13 AM on August 2, 2006

I like the way alphabetising the surnames gives you a clump of Arabic people at the beginning of the alphabet

And some of them are "Arabic" names but not Arabic people, such as Angela Iqbal and Victoria Ahmed. Which is pretty cool.

Great post!
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:59 AM on August 2, 2006

There's someone called "jdsfkljasehfkasfq Jabarkhell".
posted by Devils Slide at 3:32 PM on August 2, 2006

And what a cheery chap that jdsfkljasehfkasfq seems to be.
posted by handee at 6:10 AM on August 3, 2006

He's cheerful because he convinced the photographer his name is really jdsfkljasehfkasfq.
posted by Devils Slide at 8:10 AM on August 3, 2006

"A Thousand Faces"

I keep wackyparsing that as "A Thousand Feces." (Hi scarabic!)
posted by davy at 8:30 AM on August 3, 2006

Thanks, essexjan! Great site.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:32 AM on August 3, 2006