Bio-diversity — a necessary condition. Cultural diversity — a fact. Urban regeneration, cultural and minority group inclusion and access — political desires.
Cowley Road in Oxford — a microcosm where all this is happening. A diverse and vibrant community created by its inhabitants for themselves.
In marked contrast to what is happening less than a mile away in Cornmarket — a bland urban landscape of store fronts stitched uneasily together by bodged local council efforts to impose a supposedly pedestrian-friendly environment. A 'solution' which leaves you wondering in which of a hundred different towns in England you might be.
Cowley Road's mix of restaurants and food shops, of bars and takeaways is certainly second to none in the city. Quirky shops add an edge and originality that fit with the atmosphere while never being in danger of blending in. With no sense of the trendification, either, that turns once unfashionable parts of our cities into no-go areas for their traditional populations.
These photographs, taken between April and July 2002, set out to capture this diversity and to celebrate the identity which comes from living, working and hanging out in and around Cowley Road.
— Simon Murison-Bowie, 2002
