Photography by William E. Wright.
The past few decades have brought more changes to London's urbam landscape than any since the Victorian era. Industrial buildings and council flats have been razed and replaced with gleaming high-rises which the architecture critic Ian Martin called “improbable sex toys poking gormlessly into the air.” Meanwhile, skyrocketing rents have screwed over all but the wealthiest. It’s been both a difficult and exciting time to be a young artist in the city, according to Jack O’Brien, the 31-year-old sculptor who has lately been the talk of the town. He’s marking a decade of living in London with his first museum show in the city, an ambitious installation at Camden Art Centre – part of the institution’s Emerging Artist Prize – that he says is all about the UK capital’s transformation. “My method of making is reflective of the city’s instability,” he says.