I was searching for the colour blue that day and found it, as so often, on a wall adorned with graffiti, on a construction site. The site was on the borders of Deptford, an area of south-east London that is often described as "undergoing rapid urban change". In fact, that's nothing new: it's been a vibrant area for centuries and has seen many changes over the centuries. Between the 16th and 19th centuries it was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the royal dockyards. Much has been made of the area’s naval history. Less so of that naval history’s connection to the global slave trade. But I’m digressing...just to stress that it’s an area that is no stranger to ” rapid urban change,” a term that has become a euphemism for gentrification 21-st century style, as if rapid and change are positive by default.
Back to my search for urban blue. One of the three primary colours, it is most commonly associated with harmony, faithfulness, confidence, distance, infinity, the imagination, cold and sometimes with sadness.
Visually, it is usually associated with the sky and water, so an Instgram search for #insearchofblue tends to show that. But you'll find splashes of the urban blue I'm seeking sometimes in my photography - sign posts, graffiti, the cold metal surfaces of urbanity and splashes of urban sky.