Proper East Photography Exhibition

An exhibition of reportage photos taken by Stephen Burke in East London.

Stephen Burke has always taken photos. It was only after creating ‘Proper East’ that he finally found a platform to document his humorous and sometimes surreal view of his beloved east London that has been his home for over 35 years.

“I know if I don’t take that photo there and then it will be gone forever. The best feeling comes from capturing something spontaneous even better if it has an element of humor”.

Stephen likes to take photos that tell a story…“I have a photograph in the exhibition that shows two boys, one black one white riding a bike…One pedaling, one steering… Technically it’s a poor picture out of focus, but what it represents is very interesting to me. I grew up where as a white boy I was in the minority amongst my friends. Race at that point in our lives was never an issue. I want my photos to show the diversity of East London. A richness that very few places in the world can match".

What is Proper East? What does it mean? “I've always had trouble answering. I guess you can say its more of a feeling than a thing. It’s a fondness for your surroundings, in my case East London. I believe you have a love, a passion for East London that makes you “Proper East” regardless of how long you've lived here. You can now live in another part of the world and you can still be Proper East as long as you hold it in your heart. I've been abroad and I’ve been asked ..where are you from? and my response is “Am Proper East” now they may not have known what those words mean but they've felt the delivery”.