Superdiversity: Picturing Finsbury Park

Opening Event: Saturday 18 February 2017, 3-5pm (register)

Open 11am - 5pm, Sat 18 & Sun 19 Feb, Thu 23 to Sun 26 Feb 2017, or by appointment.
ADMISSION FREE

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Furtherfield presents Superdiversity: Picturing Finsbury Park, an exhibition collaboration between researcher and artist Katherine Stansfeld and local people and communities in London's Finsbury Park. Support gratefully acknowledged from Ordnance Survey, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Royal Holloway Centre for the GeoHumanities.

'My roots are here, I'm very proud to be where I am, I'm happy to be where I am…I have very good memories and bad I guess, I felt like one of the key things for my children is to make sure they fit in, it's so important to fit in and feel part of something and I think that was my struggle…” - Finsbury Park worker and ex-resident

Superdiversity: Picturing Finsbury Park questions what the area means for different people. It is an exploration of what place and difference mean in the context of a neighbourhood in today's London, a global city. It attempts to re-socialise 'the map' through a social research practice.

The diversity of contemporary urban life reflects and creates its complexity. This is particularly true of Finsbury Park, an area of London which is home to people from all backgrounds. Conceptualising place as open and shifting, the exhibition focuses on the different ways local place is understood and experienced in the super-diverse area of Finsbury Park. 'Superdiversity' is a concept that attempts to conceptualise the complexity, mobility and unpredictability of this form of diversity, recognising the 'diversification of diversity'.

'The area has got a lot busier. Different types of people are coming in from all walks of life. I saw lots of different faces that I'd never seen before and it was weird to me at first but I've kind of got used to it now. I'm okay with it now.' - Finsbury Park resident

Tens of thousands of people move through Finsbury Park, people spill off pavements, landscapes alter as buildings rise and impending verticality threatens sought-after sunshine. This exhibition explores city dwellers' experiences of the city's increasing density and accelerated transformation, alongside so many others, and how it affects the meaning of neighbourhood space.