ALMUDENA ROMERO

My Temporary Settlement 

My Temporary Settlement explores the ephemeral nature of housing in the UK. While London's constantly shifting urban landscape remains one of the city's few constants, contemporary artists often rely on residency programmes and temporary accommodation to nurture their practices.

In this work, I transform my living room into a pop-up pinhole camera and use large-scale photographic paper negatives to document the ever-changing cityscape of London.

Over the past 14 years, I have lived in Spain, Italy, France, Canada, and the UK, while also undertaking residencies in several countries, including the USA, China, Japan, and Greece. This has fostered a sense of belonging rooted in the artistic communities and spaces where I have developed my nomadic practice. On this occasion, the flat converted into a pop-up camera is part of an affordable housing scheme for artists, offering temporary accommodation in buildings due for demolition.

The resulting works capture a unique moment in both the area's redevelopment and my artistic practice at the time. This work has been exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery as part of the HYPERANALOGUE festival, at Four Corners Gallery in Bethnal Green, and is part of the Bow Arts Trust collection.