Bombs Should Fall Tonight but Probably Won't

"...To understand London now one has to grasp the fact that in this city, as nowhere else in the world, World War II is still going on. The spivs are running delis and restaurants, and an occupying army of international bankers and platinum-card tourists has taken the place of the American servicemen. The people are stoical and underpaid, with a lower standard of living and tackier services than in any comparable western capital. The weary camaraderie of the Blitz holds everything together. Bombs should fall tonight but probably won't, but one senses that people would welcome them."

J.G. Ballard, Time Out, 1993

INTERVIEWED: Photographer Léonie Hampton

Léonie Hampton is an incredible photographer who finds the uncanny in the everyday: a kind of (preter)naturalist, who lets her subjects get on with things while she weaves around, waiting for the moment when their unconscious self - or something purporting to be such a thing - comes out to play.

I interviewed her about her latest project, In The Shadow Of Things, which charts the clearing of the house of her mother Bron, who had "boxed out the world" due to her crippling OCD. You can read it on the arts charity website IdeasTap.

Also, if you fancy, take a look at the piece I wrote for Dazed on These New Puritans, with pictures shot on the windy marshes of Leigh on Sea by Leonie in November 2009.

Visit Léonie’s website