Occupy Cardiff
The past few months have been bad for Capitalism. In one of the latest major examples of how globalisation seeps into every section of our lives, a global protest under the name 'Occupy' has grown in scale to accommodate demonstrations in no less than 1000 towns and cities worldwide. Beginning in Kuala Lumpur at the end of July 2011, the Occupy movement has unique agendas and demands for every area they're occupying, including 'authetic global equality' - Occupy London, 'Elimination of the Corporate State' - Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Mongolia demanding a 3-5 per cent decrease in loan interest by their commercial banks. In the English capital, Occupy London have a fully functioning mini-village, where supporting members of the general public have been donating anything from food to clothes, blankets, and tents for new demonstrators. They have a media tent where all social media and press communications are centralised, and even have their own football team.

I was skeptical whether the movement would reach Wales, as having lived here for a couple of years now I've seen very little in terms of activism and protest, however when a source emailed me a link to a video on youtube in early November, it became apparent that Cardiff would indeed have its own protest. I quickly got in touch with the organisers and two days before the protest was due to start I attended a meeting in a derelict pub where participants discussed slogans and made their banners in preparation for the occupation. The pub's squatters had kindly opened its doors to the group and allowed me to shoot, while denying entry to the local media, so I felt privileged to be given the access and freedom to photograph as I pleased.

This project is a work in progress. As of 12th November 2011, Occupy Cardiff is currently looking for an alternative location after being evicted within hours of their occupation of Cardiff Castle.

Butonia
Since December 2010 I have been photographing the area in Butetown known as Loudoun Square. Once the community hub of Butetown, with a large park for children to play in, two well intentioned regeneration schemes in the 1960's and 1980's aimed to save a declining hot-spot of perceived criminal and anti-social activity. For many, these schemes had disastrous effects on the community spirit, so when it was announced that funding had been approved for a new regeneration of certain areas of Butetown, it received a mixed reception.

Royal Wedding Street Parties
On the day of Prince William's marriage to Katherine Middleton in 2011, I photographed 11 street parties around the city. These are a select few that hope to reflect the optimism, patriotism, and just sheer fun that was experienced by people of all ages on the day, and from several select electoral wards in Cardiff.

A Roots Union
RCMA is a local social enterprise that provides the smaller local producers an opportunity to trade directly with the public. The Community Garden project in Cardiff is an exciting and unusual venture where anyone, with or without experience of growing, can become part of a group of people that all work together in a mutually beneficial agreement to grow and share fruit and vegetables amongst themselves.

London G20 Protests 2009
In April 2009, the world’s twenty most powerful leaders met in London for the second time to discuss the financial markets and world economy. The summit became the focus of protests from a number of heterogeneous groups over various long standing and topical issues, and a £7.2 million security operation named ‘Operation Glencoe’ was put into force.

The protest began peacefully, with lots of different groups attending and protesting, but not long into the protest pockets of violent behavior and vandalism began to erupt, resulting in police tactics that have since been criticized by human rights groups. Sadly, Ian Tomlinson, a newsagent in the City of London, died within a police cordon of the G-20 Meltdown protest near the Bank of England.

Initially the City of London Police denied that any incident with the police had occurred. However video, photographic and eyewitness evidence was published in the media, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed that Tomlinson had been pushed back by police officers minutes before he collapsed and died of a heart attack. Further allegations that Tomlinson had been hit with a baton were supported when additional video footage became public. The IPCC then later ordered a second post mortem and an independent criminal inquiry, with the second post mortem finding that although “there is evidence of coronary atherosclerosis” it was “unlikely to have contributed to the cause of death” and that “the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage”.