This week I took the first steps towards a better understanding of the people that live in the houses I’ve been creating images of these past months. Using social media, I created a call out for participants to interview and photograph with an aim to discover what gives Bath it’s sense of community and what it is about the city that gives them a sense of place. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of responses I got back within a few hours of the posts.  

My first interview was with a young hip hop artist, Alfredo. In his early 20’s, Alfredo has lived in Bath his whole life both on the South side and North side. The interview took place near his home in Whiteway, on the outskirts of southwest Bath. Bath, from a wealth or social point of view is divided into those with good jobs or wealth, being primarily in the center and to the North, and those in the South and on the outskirts, who are on low incomes or struggle with unemployment.  

“One of the things that motivates me, with hip hop its primarily about getting a message of struggle out there. And Bath stereotypically doesn’t have that struggle, but what a lot of outsiders don’t see is that, its portrayed as this beautiful town with a rich history, which it is. But I don’t think that people on the outskirts of Bath fit that pretty image. I don’t think they get enough publicity.” [Alfredo interview:2021] 

One of the eye-opening moments was when talking about the social divide in Bath, Alfredo spoke of the A1/A2 divide (referring to the postcodes BA1 and BA2). This was something I hadn’t heard of, however had seen evidence of this in my walks, in the form of graffiti: 

“From a class perspective there’s at least a stereotype that anywhere in A2, your sort of chavvy or what not, don’t get me wrong most of them are. It’s not really North South, it’s more A2 A1. In A1 your considered posh and in A2 you’re considered a chav. But I preferer to hang around with people in A1, I don’t have a lot of respect for people in A2. And people here know that, so they have no respect for me.” [Alfredo interview:2021]  

For me this was a pivotal moment in my project as I felt I needed to learn more about this A1/A2 divide, the struggles faced by people in Bath, living in a city they can’t afford to live in. And to learn more about how this issue affects the youth of the city, what prospects do they have of finding a home there. One aspect of life in this city that appears to be universal is the ability to escape from it merely by walking away from the centre.  

“My music combined with that [finding peace] is my escape, because Bath, from a hip hop point of view doesn’t fit the hip hop stereotype. But if you’ve come from the areas we’ve come from, a lots of us do struggle and a lot of us come from single parents. A lot of people around here are living on benefits. There’s a lot of the same struggles [as bigger, urban cities]. The judgement that we’re all posh just comes from the lack of crime, there is crime just not as much as a big city. But that’s probably because we’re a small city so the less people the less of everything.” [Alfredo interview: 2021] 

Reference

Interview with Alfredo conducted 01.06.2021