Estate, by Robert Clayton
‘Estate’ is an early 90s photographical study of the Lion Farm Estate in the West Midlands mixes architecture and social history by photographer Robert Clayton. In 1991, ‘fresh out of college’, Clayton ‘stumbled upon’ the estate, and spent the next eight months taking pictures of people, pets, cars and graffiti; interiors and exteriors, close-up details and the estate as a whole.
Shot over 25 years ago on the Lion Farm Estate, in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, Robert Clayton’s images capture life on a housing estate in the early 1990’s. The work that was displayed masterfully exhibited the real lives of those living there during this time coupled with an appreciation of the architecture that surrounds them.
This insightful glimpse into the past is particularly relevant today as social housing in the UK erodes still further, with the welfare state ideology that created public housing worn down by greed and gentrification. Taken from his book of the same name, this exhibition is perfectly placed to serve as a tacit reminder of the need for social housing and the beauty of community.
