In Deptford, London, on the bank of the River Thames lies Pepys Estate. Opened in 1966, and comprising three 24 storey towers – the tallest in London at the time – eight 10 storey blocks and multiple lower structures, it still stands today after many phases of demolition and remodelling. A born-and-raised Bristolian and avid documenter of people and communities, including a butcher named Joe from the Bronx and fishing competitions in Oaxaca, Mexico, Freddie Miller has most recently taken his camera to the southeast London area to document its drill artists.
The District came about after Freddie was invited to take part in the exhibition Boundary Conditions, a group show thematically seeking to reframe the estate, at Gareth Gardner Gallery in September. Inspired by photos of the estate taken in 1970 by Tony Ray-Jones for The Architectural Review, Freddie initially gave himself a “fairly loose brief,” to photograph its young people. “I sent messages via social media, and visited the estate to find contributors,” Freddie tells us. He soon met Skitszo via Instagram, and they agreed that the project would also double as music promotion for the artist and his friends. “I gravitate towards subculture in my work so finding a group of mates who were part of the drill community, and wanted the images for their own purposes, just seemed like the perfect fit,” he adds.
For Freddie, visiting the estate without his camera first was paramount, as was immersing himself in the community and building trust. And when it came to the actual documentations, he says, “it was important for me to capture the estate and friendship group in a sensitive and collaborative way”. Alluding to the media and Metropolitan Police’s scrutinising of drill lyrics and the overall culture (the Met requested for YouTube to take down a total of 510 music videos in 2021 and since 2020 there has been a 1360% increase in requests made to the platform), Freddie sought for it to be more than a media depiction, and a focusing on the pride in their hometown. “I felt their musical ambitions and the strength of their friendship, that’s what was important for me to show.”
