the last kingsland road
words by enrico lixia

desired-landscapes.com

“The next station is haggerston.” i can still recall the first time i heard that voice: i was sitting on the london overground’s “chocolate and orange seats” designed by wallace sewell, eyes facing east, when i got struck by the view over the regent’s canal from kingsland bridge - a glimpse of serendipity that precedes the stop by a few seconds.

every time i wander around kingsland road i find myself absorbed in a holistic visual, olfactory and auditory experience: a meta-universe where the most diverse ethnicities, personalities, life philosophies and ideologies coexist.

growing up in a relatively small town on an island – cagliari, sardinia; a wonderful place that hasn’t been wiped out by wild globalisation yet – I welcomed this fast paced progress with curiosity and positivity: all things new and on trend were to be cherished and endorsed whatsoever. For an islander like me, London’s fluid nature was pure creative oxygen.

Before Brexit, I didn’t have an opinion yet on the epochal transitions I was witnessing. I woke up from this dystopian nightmare abruptly, on June 24th 2016. 

I began reflecting on its very nature, questioning whether I was more attracted by its ephemeral yet superficial or its “perpetual” but deeper essence.