Joyce Edwards: A Story of Squatters

A remarkable body of work by the late photographer Joyce Edwards is being unveiled for the first time in a new exhibition that reveals one of East London’s most extraordinary grassroots housing movements. Edwards, a Hampstead landlady turned passionate documentarian, ventured into the East End nearly 50 years ago to photograph the young squatters who were transforming derelict streets into vibrant, if precarious, homes.

Edwards passed away in 2023, just months before her hundredth birthday, leaving behind a substantial legacy of fine photographs—many lovingly printed in her own darkroom. Much of this work was nearly lost to time, but a recent discovery and archiving effort has brought her images back into the light. Our new exhibition celebrates her work. 

In the 1970s, Edwards began photographing squats across London, a journey which took her from affluent locations such as The Bishops Avenue, now known as Billionaires’ Row—to the heart of Bethnal Green. There she encountered ‘the Triangle’, a cluster of streets near the Grand Union canal and Victoria Park. The houses on the Triangle had been earmarked for demolition to make way for the monstrous London Ringways motorway scheme that included the Eastway, a road straight through Victoria Park to the A12. Mercifully the plan was scrapped, but only after hundreds of residents had been decanted and rehoused. The empty houses were soon seized upon by young people and locals seeking an inexpensive and alternative way of life in the capital. Over 2 years, Edwards took their portraits, creating an intimate and richly detailed record of a unique community.  

The squatters' story is one of resilience and self-determination. The community of the Triangle did more than restore the homes; over the following years they established a Housing Co-op. Supported by SOLON Housing Association, the architect Julian Harrap and Cooperative Development Services (CDS), they convinced the Greater London Council and the Housing Corporation to eventually sell them the freeholds to all 79 properties. Today, the community continues to thrive as the Grand Union Housing Co-op. As Pete Bishop assures us, “The Co-op survives because of the involvement of the members and that we are fully mutual and, crucially, because our 1981 constitution includes a No Right to Buy clause.”

The exhibition brings together Edwards’ compelling portraits of the musicians, builders, painters, actors and radicals that occupied the Grand Union squats, alongside snapshots taken by the squatters themselves: vibrant Kodachrome slides, Polaroids, and drugstore prints that capture the spontaneity and creativity of life inside the Triangle. Together, these images form an unprecedented visual record of an East London community that refused to disappear.

EVENTS

An exciting events programme will be announced soon. Join our mailing list for updates. 

PARTNERS

The project is a partnership between Grand Union Housing Co-operative and Four Corners, supported by Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives. It is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.