Photo|Frome – Roland Ramanan

Roland Ramanan is a London based documentary photographer with a background in music and education. In 2012 he started a long term documentary project on the issue-affected group of people who gravitate towards a corner of East London called Gillett Square. The square was the starting point that lead him to many other aspects of the community. The work has been featured in Vice magazine among others and has won various awards including being shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society documentary awards 2023. In 2022, Roland was on of the finalists in the Portrait of Britain awards.

The 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 Roland 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. ‘Dominoes’ touches on the universal themes of love, death, hope and the evolution of urban communities.