North Islington Exhibits, 15th-17th July: Leo Asemota, 'Mapping a City'

Witness appeal signs by the Metropolitan Police might not immediately spring to mind when most people consider subjects for photographic exhibition.

            Artist Leo Asemota, however, highlighted them in his project entitled ‘Mapping the City’ ten years ago –and they are now on display in Islington.

            For the whole of 2001 Asemota captured photographs of the signs, which are put in place by the Metropolitan Police in the hope of finding witnesses to criminal acts. By the end of the year he had around 3000 photographs.

The project has never exhibited but is now in place in Asemota’s studio to mark its tenth anniversary, with the possibility that it could be commissioned by a gallery.

            Signs photographed include appeals after a suspicious death at Regents Canal, a petrol bombing on an Islamic centre in Maida Vale, and a rape in Ealing. Captured in the background of the photographs, Londoners pass the signs without a glance.

            One photograph, projected onto the bare wall of Asemota’s studio on

Hornsey Road

, shows a sign that has been half destroyed –the details of the appeal disappearing with it.

            On another wall in the studio, a video interview describes how Asemota would make his way around the city, taking photographs –he would ‘get on the first bus that comes along, and travel.’ Signs discovered in various areas of the city are shown in the film.

The project uses mixed media, with projection, video, newspaper clippings and photography all taking precedence. A ‘presentation’ of ideas is how Asemota describes the work.

            He stresses that the boards themselves should remain the most important aspect in the viewer’s mind, rather than any notions of race, sexuality or anything else that might come from them. He does point out a racial issue that is presented by the collection, however –that if a black person was suspected of a crime or was a victim, this was always made clear. Any other ethnicity was not mentioned, even in the hunt for suspects. Originally from the Midwest of Nigeria, Asemota believes that where crime is concerned, the general consensus is often that it will concern the black community in some way.

            Black History Month ran in autumn 2001, when Asemota was in the midst of photographing the signs. Letters showing both negative and positive reaction to Camden’s involvement in the month are displayed alongside Asemota’s work, along with a mock-up witness appeal sign calling for witnesses to the ‘mis-appropriation of black history.’ Letters criticising Camden’s treatment of black history month too show the depth of feeling about the stereotypical link between crime and the black community.

The photographs and related materials collected now are not intended for the public, Asemota says, but for galleries –thus the reason why the collection has never exhibited before. On display at the Contemporary Rooms for the next two days, the project is currently available to be viewed for future exhibitions.

Asemota can be contacted through his website – www.eotla.com