She first visited a squata building occupied by people who don’t own it or pay rentout of personal interest in April 2013, while she was in London studying for her master’s degree.
The notion that this interest could be developed into a wider concept only came along a month or two later, she said. The result is a striking collection of photographs and text titled “A Place Called Home,” in which she seeks to challenge common preconceptions about squatters — and explore the idea that home is more a feeling than a physical place.
Having moved into her new home in a squat in Kentish Town, north London, Kern had to figure out how to coexist in one building with 30 people and three dogs. She also found herself part of a wider alternative community that’s both transient and close-knit.
Through the connections she made, she visited six other squats in north and south London. One was in a former fabric warehouse, another in an abandoned garden center, a third in a white-walled former design studio.
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Despite the privations that come with squatting in buildings that often have no electricity or running water, Kern says she would do it again — although she wants to try out the many other alternative lifestyles out there first.
From her images and her words, it’s clear she found her time in a squat an overwhelmingly rewarding experience.
“You may not have a shower, but you may gain the most amazing rooftop views,” she writes. “You may have to share your room with seven other people, but you may share your happiest moments with them. You may have to move 10 times a year, but the diverse places and people you meet become an integral part of your journey through life, turning it into anything but ordinary.”
Corinna Kern is a photojournalist and documentary photographer based in South Africa. She is represented by Getty Reportage.
