BITE Insight

Around 60 million new images are uploaded onto Instagram every single day, generating roughly 1.6 billion ‘likes’. People are obsessed with documenting the everyday minutiae of their lives, so much so that they can often miss the world around them changing.

This changing world, specifically the changing face of East London and the relationships within it, was the underlying idea behind the cult photography book, ‘I’ve lived in East London for 86 ½ Years’. The book was published by Hoxton Mini Press in 2014, documenting the friendship between the publishing house’s founder Martin Usborne and Joseph Markovitch, an East London pensioner who had lived in that particular area of the city for his entire life.

Joseph passed away in 2013, but in the year that would have seen him turn 90, Clubhouse Studios identified an opportunity to create a digitally enhanced glimpse into his world. The latest experience, ‘86 ½ Years’, reimagines the celebrated photography journal. It pays homage to the portraits taken by Usborne alongside Markovitch’s inimitable soundbites, as well as recognising the unique relationship between the two men.

The story is told through a new and immersive online journey that the viewer controls through either opening and closing their eyes via the webcam or through the spacebar on a keyboard. As you close your eyes, Joseph’s words sound in your ears, talking about his mother and his home, allowing your imagination to create its own idea of the man behind the stories. Then, as you open your eyes, you are greeted with the still photograph taken of Joseph by Usborne, brought to life in digitally manipulated moving images.

The experience is multi-sensory but remains authentic to the original journal, allowing the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the story. Clubhouse Studios, alongside Hoxton Mini Press, created an experience to compliment the traditional format, drawing the original readers further into Joseph’s life. The project explores the world of emerging tech and its creative applications. The photographs, far more than your average Instagram post, recapture the medium’s sensory and vivid quality and are simply enhanced by the digital aspect of the experience.