what does 'city' mean to you?

Recently I visited the Truman Brewery, an arts hub in Spitalfields, east London. I found myself wandering around an almost clinical room, bare with only photos hanging on the walls, it was silent and possibly the only way to inhale the wide variation of ideas at the exhibition supporting shootnations.org. 


The organisation encourages youths to participate in creative activities, by way of a photography competition. I was surprised to find myself so taken with this work; admittedly I was expecting nothing more than amateur photography, but I was genuinely surprised by the amount of talent, some of the following pictures really caught my eye..


 

the last picture in particular reinstates the idea that even among all the urbanisation, the city is full of surprise and never lacks resourcefulness. It made me think, what does the city mean to me?- having only recently moved so close to London from a small regency town in the West country - and this is conclusion I came to:

For me the city is filled with atmosphere, more so than with the country. I've always hated the idea of 'escape to the country', I've lived there, it's not that great, and so here's to my escape to the City... The city is full of magic, fuelling the soul with energy and yet obtaining the ability to take it from you again at any second. It never sleeps.
Walking slowly is not an option, because everything goes at 1 million mph and if you dare stand still you will get left behind. I'm not blind to the city's darker side, but with London (and with any city), it's about finding the treasures that lie between the smokestacks.