4.11.2020
At Mare Street Market in London Hackney, the night stretched til 11pm with incoercible joy and emergency. In the steam of human heat, England closes its service business for Lockdown II. But at the crack of dawn, no one is ready for the ban. People are still sharing files, getting a haircut, ordering a last pizza. And when the gong states the end of the gamble, the night feels too young to close the party. Everything shifts into fifth gear. The staff is on wheels. The masks start to droop down. Some shake hands, oblivious. Others hug as if going to war. And when only the people who served others remain, the camera switches off. The best game is always the backroom poker.
Photography & text Claudine Boeglin @dandyvagabond
Edited with curator Sherine Geagea @titusbeyrouth
Empty stools and table, Mare Street Market is a desert. Stranger Than Paradise, the record shop, apologises for being closed. Pop up shops are ghostly silent. No more manicures or flowers. Café & croissants are now delivery only. November 5, England enters its Winter lockdown season, sending everyone back home again. And since, Broadway Market at night is straight out of film noir, crossed by stray cats and bikers.
