Gomma Photography Grant 2024
Dominoes
Photographer
Roland Ramanan
Dominoes
19 Jan, 2025
Dominoes is a unique and vibrant mosaic of the lives that float in and around a particular corner of Hackney in London’s East End. In 2012 Ramanan started a long term documentary project on an issue-affected group of people who gravitate towards Gillett Square. The square was the starting point that lead him to many other aspects of the community. Gillett Square was derelict and underdeveloped for years until, in the 1990s it became an experiment in urban regeneration. Like the Dominoes they play in the square, those lives are often precarious. For over ten years Ramanan was privileged to be allowed into the lives and homes of some of those he met, to photograph their fights and struggles; their families and their lovers. Some of these people are now his friends and some are no longer with us. The participants he is closest to like Nina, Paul and Bianca, form the heart of a book just published. The work gives an honest glimpse into lives that we may often turn away from but always with a sense of hope. Dominoes touches on the universal themes of love, death, hope and the evolution of urban communities.
About the photographer
Roland Ramanan
Roland is a London based photographer, born in 1966 with a background in music and education. He developed a passion for photography around 2010, initially through street photography. In 2022 he was one of the finalists in the Portrait of Britain awards. In 2012 he started a long term documentary project on a vulnerable group of people who gravitate towards a corner of east London called Gillett Square. The work has been featured in the Guardian newspaper, Vice magazine and more recently in a group show at the Espacio Gallery in London and is published under the title Dominoes by Dewi Lewis in 2024. Roland’s current project focuses on the London roller skate scene and its relationship to black culture. Publications and exhibitions Winner Portrait of Britain 2021 2024 Featured in the Guardian for Dominoes and Skaters 2022 Featured in This Separated Isle group exhibition, Glasgow. 2022 Gillett Sq project featured in Autograph online gallery “My hackney Selfie”. 2022 Gillett Sq picture featured in I Love Hackney 2022 Featured in Observations photography festival Germany. 2020 14th Pollux Awards Non Professional Section Winner in the reportage/documentary category for a single picture and honourable mention for a series - related to Gillett Square. 2015 Winner PhotoVoice Award My photographs have been featured in: 2015: Interview in VICE magazine 2015 London Independent Photography Exhibition 2014 Hackney Citizen newspaper 2013 London Independent Photography Exhibition VICE magazine, Guardian online – 24 Photography Group project, Onedgestreet.com F-Stop magazine, fLIP, the magazine for London Independent Photography and the catalogue for the London Independent Photography exhibition 2013 & 2105.
