David Bailey: Road to Barking

Bailey on home turf in London's East End: a democratic vision of its people, places and buildings

Born and bred in London's East End, David Bailey (born 1938) has returned to visit and photograph his home turf again and again over the decades: "I've watched it slowly fade with time, from a city being bombed in the Blitz to a smoking ember of what it once was."

Road to Barking is Bailey's latest portrait of the East End, specifically the diverse borough of Barking and Dagenham, described by the leader of its council, Darren Rodwell, as "the last bastion of working-class London where traditional Cockney mingles with over 120 languages from around the world." From buskers, flower sellers and butchers to snow-dusted stone angels in a cemetery and abandoned boats on the edge of the Thames, from yawning passengers on the Tube to police officers and punks and all in between, Bailey's vision is loving and democratic.