Arcadia England

By Lauren Arcangeli, Nathan Minns and Erin Cassidy

Making a Living as an Artist in North London

The only indication of Zoe Norfolk’s high profile work was her small silver camera necklace draped around her neck. She has been an independent contractor and the only photographer that has had the security clearance to take photographs of the last four Prime Ministers at special events away from the rest of the press. While she does use a high-end DSLR camera to capture the world-famous, she uses a different tool for her everyday life: her smartphone.

According to Miss. Norfolk, she photographed the famous shot of a comedian handing the sitting Prime Minister a P45 form, which is used to file for unemployment in the United Kingdom, at the Conservative Party conference and the shot was taken with her iPhone. It ran in major news outlets and because of that photograph, she gained popularity in the field, even getting the chance to photograph the queen on four occasions, although many of the photographs are for internal use only.

With Zoe’s high-pressure lifestyle of photographing celebrities, she had to find a way to relax. Zoe took me on a walk through her parcel of land which she has worked on maintaining for about ten years. She says that she will sit by her “best friends”, who are the frogs that live in her small pond to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of London.

She has had to be “fiercely independent” through her career while working to raise a child as a single mother, become one of the top photographers in the United Kingdom, and take care of her small but beautiful piece of land. The art scene is seemingly alive and well in Northern London.

Not all residents of Northern London have the same experience. We also spoke with local artist Michele Wyckoff-Smith about her collective and jewelry business in the area.

The Muswell Hill Creatives was established in 2014 as a way to promote interaction between local artists and promote their works to a broader audience. Michele Wyckoff Smith is a part of this collective and is the creator behind Wyckoff Smith Jewellery. She feels that Hornsey Town Hall, a building completed in 1935 and the current location of her studio, serves as “the heart of Crouch End”. Hornsey Town Hall currently hosts community events such as concerts and houses an art gallery. The building has also been used as the setting for popular shows, including Netflix’s The Crown.

Despite the variety of functions the hall fills, Michele expressed great concern about the near future of the building. The building costs a lot to maintain and has been sold to a new team of developers. With a majority of the artists’ leases ending in just a few weeks, Michele will need to relocate her business, and as a local resident of the area, Michele worries about the larger impact that the loss of Hornsey Town Hall will have on the community. The hall is being redeveloped into housing units, which will increase the local population, putting stress on the area’s existing infrastructure. For example, schools, which are already overpopulated, will have to cope with rising levels of school-age children. While Michele hopes for a favorable outcome, she also says that “land is like gold in London”. A farewell party at the hall has been scheduled for June 23rd, and it seems that Crouch End and the surrounding area of Muswell Hill will have to learn to live without the figurative heart of their community.

Zoe Norfolk is a professional photographer residing in London, England, specializing in portrait and event photography. Learn more about her work on her website and Instagram.

Michele Wyckoff Smith is a jeweler based in London, England. Learn more about her and her work on her website.

For more information about Hornsey Town Hall and events, visit the town hall webpage.