Neighbourhood watch

The news reports I read and heard about Hackney in the mid 1990s were rarely positive. When I had to visit the east London borough running errands for the photographer I was assisting, I scheduled them for noon when the supposed gangsters, pimps and addicts (I hoped) would be sleeping off the previous night’s endeavours. Around the same time, Essex-born photographer Jenny Lewis graduated from Preston University (University of Central Lancashire) with a degree in Fine Art, moved to London and made Hackney her home. ‘The first house that I absolutely loved was in Haggerstone near London Fields. A proper house with a pool table and a massive garden for parties. From that first house I’ve moved twice, one road over. I walk past that first house I lived in every day. I never felt nervous in Hackney. I immediately knew my neighbours and felt really connected. All the photographers lived east who I was assisting, it was easy