You could be forgiven for expecting a band of shuffling zombies to start walking past at any moment, but in the small town of Gravesend, situated in the borough of Gravesham, Kent, things are exactly the way they’re supposed to be. Developed by the metropolitan police in 2002, the 300 square meter replica town serves as a facility for police officers to train for urban riots. While it includes such local amenities such as a pizza restaurant, post office, bank, tube station and football stadium for officers to get in character, Gravesend’s buildings are all facades– petrol bomb, brick and glass bottle-proof of course. In a chilling series of images taken after gaining access to the highly restricted area, photographer Chris Clarke sees these eerie streets as a sobering account of the death of community in 21st century; a mock town that has “all the façade of human presence, except that presence itself”…
Discover more of Gravesend here.
