Jeremy Deller’s A Flag For London

SKYROCKETING rents are the focus of a new piece of artwork on display in Somers Town – and it has captured the imagination of many who find themselves swept up in the housing crisis.

Artist Jeremy Deller – who once installed an inflatable Stonehenge on Hampstead Heath – has designed A Flag For London, which shows how rental prices have spiralled out of control as the number of properties has dried up.

The work was commissioned by Somers Gallery in Chalton Street and is displayed on the hoarding surrounding a nearby building site.

The flag shows a sharply rising line graph depicting “percentage increase in rent across the capital”, set on top of a steeply declining line showing “rental supply in London.”

According to gallery owner Javier Calderón, the artwork, which was mounted in time for the Somers Town Festival on Saturday (see above), has started lots of conversations in the area.

Some of the young artists who worked in the gallery have already been forced out of London by rising rents.

They are now living in places like Hastings and Margate, said Mr Calderón, adding: “It feels like if things were bad before, it seems like now they are going worse. The situation does worry me. Myself, I cannot afford to get a house, but it’s not so much about myself – of course it’s about the whole of the community.”

“The flag is wonderful. It’s a wonderful representation. I think the artist tried to be quite explicit, because normally art doesn’t try to be explicit, but I think he wanted to make sure that you understand it.”

The gallery owner said he felt Somers Town will be particularly hit by rising costs due to its location and added: “I think there’s a lot of greed, sadly. That’s the problem.”

Barry Stilwell, an organiser of the Somers Town festival, said: “Even while we were pinning it up onto the hoarding we were getting a full variety of opinion. The fact it’s a ‘flag for London’ makes you realise there’s not a flag for London.”

Mr Stillwell said the artwork made him realise that experience of the housing crisis is “the one thing we all have in common.”

He said: “Either we’ve found a way of surviving here, or else others – like many of my friends – have had to move out.
“It’s something we all have experience of.”