It’s funny how ideas come together. Having moved back to London and looking into the SE London art scene in and around Peckham and New Cross, I stumbled across Asylum as an exhibition space and thought OMG this Place would be amazing for weddings! Then realised that they had indeed started hiring the space for weddings and thought I need to photograph in there. At the similar time an artist friend of mine was working on Baroque influenced street art and I thought that’s it the idea! So Erica and I started to share ideas and imagery on Pinterest and Erica invited an eclectic and wonderfully talented unique bunch of suppliers to bring the Baroque vision together.
To photograph and light the shoot building on the Baroque style I wanted to light the subjects referencing italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. Caravaggio used intense illumination in his painting and seemed to almost turn a spotlight on his figures with dark shadows using a single light source. The high contrast in his paintings made them intensely powerful and dramatic which is what I wanter to emanate in the photographs.
Asylum is the perfect photography backdrop with crumbling walls of derelict beauty and atmospheric lighting filtering thought the beautiful original stain glass windows. It’s is like a total surprise ; a hidden gem just off the Old Kent road. Space wise it’s huge and Jo and Dido who run Asylum are so accommodating and flexible to work with and it is simply wonderful and if you are looking for a unique venue that will surprise and delight your guests then go and see it!
