Katherine Bourke the airplanes, they’re north—
2004 Since coming to London I’ve been thinking about the number of meanings for North. Is it something to do with the North side of the river? Is it split by East and West? Is North the location of the Swiss Tower? Is direction no longer relevant whilst walking? Is North the place up there from down here where the black and white birds soar slowly? Is to be Northern to be elsewhere and beyond? Loc ation and direction. It is difficult to separate my experience of London, a new location, from an awareness of location and direc - tion, from North and South. North refers to both a particular direction in relation to location, and to places and ideas synonymous with the phrase. Coming from Canada, a country identified with North, I have become aware my fixation with its meaning in London. In Canada, North is associated with location, direction and identity; Canada is North of the United States, it is Northern as a geo - graphic location and as a concept about Canadian identity. Locat ion, in my observations of London, is a notorious topic of conversation. ‘Hiya, I’m at Tate, where are you?’ Unless you’re about to meet up with the person on the other end of the phone I find the relevance of location and desire to be located puzzling. What happened to the beautiful anonymity of the mobile phone? I’ve resisted mobile phone use because I haven’t wished to be reachable at all times living in London; I desired some time and space to be not found, not known, lost in the city and even to myself. Whilst enjoying an anonymous private space within a public place, I don’t wish to reveal my location —‘I’m mobile, in transit, neither here nor there’. Despite my anonymity, I too feel a need to locate myself in London and I’m fascinated by stories of location: one south Londoner describes a constant longing to be a real Londoner again— in the North. She dreams of living in her northeast London flat, on the tube line. Is North a psychological reaction to the flow and speed of transit in London? I know my three months in Stretham Hill last year stirred up an incredible envy for those on the tube and a ridiculous fear of buses due to falling asleep, missing my stop and ending up lost late at night. Another North Londoner describes Hackney as more central and accessible to the action as opposed to New Cross all the way down Old Kent Road. Is the action in the North? In a city as diverse and made up of many villages as London, there are as many versions of location and direction, centre and action as there are Londoners. South London feels like a retreat, a place to observe the North in its absence.
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local architecture | in a global world
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