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Unreal City

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“Van Heerden shows that Eliot’s view of the world has within it a humanity to which these pictures give vivid, if harsh, reality.”
— Bernard O’Donoghue, Whitbread award winning Faber poet

“Unreal City dovetails beautifully with T.S. Eliot’s seminal poem The Waste Land. Van Heerden’s contemporary translation through poetic imagery captures the immediacy of London, a city still full of power and sadness, illumination and darkness.”
— Laura Noble, London gallerist

“I was blown away. The pictures are simply stunning – the best art project I’ve seen in a very long time.”
— Paul Presley, Editor of Geographical Magazine

“Unreal City opens up interesting conversations about wealth inequality, homelessness and the vulnerability of the less fortunate in our society, with a particular focus on London.”
— Rara Plumptre, Founder, Tutus House

“This is an imaginative and unique project, bringing together excellent photographs of the capital with T.S. Eliot’s iconic poetry as a perceptive commentary still relevant to today.”
— Andrew Dismore, London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden

“Mind-blowing”
— Sue Williams, musician

“Incredible”
— The London Magazine

“A wonderful project”
— Philip Marshal, Director of The London Library

“Unreal City is just wonderful – I’m in awe! Hauntingly atmospheric and intuitively perceptive.”
— Annamarie Dzendrowskyj, international award winning artist

“A wonderful project. I don’t see it as really being a photographic illustration of The Waste Land: it’s more a kind of creative photographic interpretation of it, or a creative photographic riff that takes The Waste Land as its starting point. And then, by virtue of its originality, intelligence, and sensibility, becomes a new kind of poem in its own right – a photographic poem. It’s a big achievement.”
— Dr Mahlet Zimeta, philosopher, journalist & Senior Policy Adviser at the Royal Society

“A high profile publishing project of considerable cultural significance.”
— Julian Roup, author