This is a statement I made at the beginning of my first semester in 2nd year. this statement was basically the starting point of my ideas developing for my studio practice and theme. as I am still carrying on with my theme from my 2nd year I am just going in more depth and detail about the topics I use were as in the 2nd year I basically sat on the fence and let my images do all the talking. This statement is all so useful because it tell you brief points about Norris Green and the reasons behind the theme.
"6th October 2012
Norris Green:
At the start of the summer project my theme was Liverpool and I never really had a particular part that I was focusing on. After doing some research I found that there is a good and bad side to Liverpool. The good side being mainly on the outer city were all shopping centres, restaurants, architecture and other attractions of Liverpool are. The bad side being the council estates that are in the inner city.
Most tourists that come to Liverpool come to see the good side of Liverpool and don’t really expect to see what they see on the bad part of Liverpool. Most tourist mostly come too Liverpool to see the Liverpool or Everton football ground or just people that come to admire the architecture and the docks. Most of the population of Liverpool are migrants that have immigrated to Liverpool hoping for a better future. Liverpool town centre is the best part of Liverpool with all kinds of attractions and entertainment from the galleries, museums, restaurants, pubs, The Albert Dock , The Empire, shopping, cathedrals, hotels, etc.
The Worst part of Liverpool is the council’s estates that are based on the inner city. The council estates are split into 23 estates in Merseyside and the most known for the worst reputation is Norris Green and Croxteth. There are other estates that are bad but Norris Green and Croxteth are known for gang crime and not only that the appearances of the estates are disappointing. Both estates have featured on the TV series Ross Kemp on gangs.
Living on a council estate from the age of 7 I'm used to seeing what I see but it’s a big change from where I live to the town centre. I live In Norris Green, it’s not the best of places but luckily I live in a quite close that rarely gets bother but have had our fair share but has had an attraction for youths to dump robbed cars. The appearance of Norris Green isn't great. When you first see it you would know that it is a council estate because most of the house that are owned by the council are identical to each other and haven’t got their own personal touch’s like bought houses have.
I have lived in two parts of Norris green the first part was from the age of seven. The council decided that they wanted to rebuild a big part of Norris Green so people that lived in them houses had to be relocated to another part of Liverpool or Norris Green so the houses could undergo demolition. When the choice was decided people were upset because there was elderly people living in houses that have lived in the same house from when they was a child. Also my primary school was around the corner from where I used to live and it was surrounded by houses. When the house were cleared and started getting knocked down the Primary school still remained and ten years on the primary school still remains in its original location but the appearance on the outside of the school is outrages. Ten years on there hasn't been much progress in building wise and the spaces remain bare which makes the school look like it is in the middle of a field with roads and fences. But the houses that have been rebuilt are giving the estate a good appearance."
