John Londei: Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop

Book's Front Cover

Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop

This book has links to the theme of cruel and tender with the declining independent shops that are in the high street even this might not have a direct link to the project it has links to the idea that age does not define us.

Book’s Description

Shot over a 15-year period beginning in the early 1970s, this is a tribute to an era that has all but disappeared - the traditional small shops that feature have now almost all gone. In 2004 Londei began the task of updating what had become of the shopkeepers and shops he’d photographed so long ago. (London, 2007,4 )

What Is denoted?

The Book denotes shops that have closed because of the declining footfall in these areas. The book shows the shops as they were closing and what they are today in the location.

What is Connoted?

The book connotes the message of the company is closing and the feeling is doe to be suddenness. With the use of the vignetting to add the negativity feeling in the work. The book uses negative space in the work to show that the shop is beginning to shut down which highlights the problem of what is going on in the retail industry.

What makes this work significant to you (and or your project)?

The work is significant to me work having worked before with small companies in the past to produce a project about small companies. The Work is important to the work as they all link to the end outcome of a book that is cruel and tender.

What ideas will you take forward to think about in your work?

I am planning on taking on the idea of the positioning of the camera to show the information about what is going on. I am planning on taking on the way he has used contact sheets at the end showing what they are now.

Who is the intended audience?

The audience was intended to be viewers at a gallery across the world and people interested in the subject that he has participated in. The work has lived on with many students emulating his work since his death back in 2012.

What context have you seen the work in?

I have seen this work presented in the book that he has published and seeing a MOMA image of how it was presented in the gallery. I think the way of seeing this in the book because the entire book is done in a typology fashion with every image being shot in 2 different ways of it being a landscape or portrait,

Is the work part of a bigger series?

The work was originally done in the 1980s of the main shop fronts but it was shot in the late 2000s with the locations showing what they are today. Explaining what some of the shopkeepers got up to. This is the end of the series as he died in 2012 and it can only be redone with be people doing it in the style of him.

References

Londei, J., 2007. Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop. [Online]
Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shutting-Up-Shop-Decline-Traditional/dp/1904587461
[Accessed 1 11 2019].

Londei, J., 2008. Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop. 2 ed. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.