Vitturi used the market 'as a kind of prop house', and would bring home discarded fruit and vegetables to be transformed into sculptures in his nearby studio. ‘This totem is part of the multicolour series at the end of the book. I wanted to mix completely different things from different backgrounds together – so there’s the balloon from the Chinese shop, the sweet potato from South America, and the orange wig from an African shop. This represents the diversity found in Ridley Road market, and the unstable position of the objects symbolises the precariousness of this mix of cultures in Dalston because of gentrification – that’s why many of my sculptures look like they’re falling apart’ Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
In Vitturi's portraits of market stallholders, human faces are sometimes obliterated by small explosions of coloured chalk and pigment, which the photographer purchased from local traders. ‘Here I was interested in the graphic composition of the woman,' he says. 'I wanted to find connections between her and the objects and other people on the street. In this sculpture, the pig leg is particularly interesting because people in west Africa, the guy selling the meat told me, really like to have their meat painted (much like we like to eat yellow cakes, perhaps), and here the pig leg was painted in a really strong, bright pink. Also included is part of a wig from one of the biggest hair shops in London on Ridley Road’ Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
‘In the post office one day I saw this very beautiful man with blue eyes, Mr Hunter from Jamaica, and he was wearing this hat he’d made using a bag from the market. His portrait was a starting point for the sculpture. It’s made entirely of blue things from the market – I collected lots of the same bags, some balloons, and fake diamonds from the kids' shop. I wanted to represent the soul of Ridley Road and recreate all the textures I found in this street. The sculpture, in this case, only lasted for 20 minutes’ Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
'The photo on the left is of the interior of a shop owned by a woman who is a fashion designer and makes lots of dresses for the African women on the market. I love the colours and the interior of her studio. I've never been to Africa, but with its bright colours and posters, her shop really looks like Africa to me – people who have been always say it's like being inside a Nigerian shop. Then I found this fabric [next to the photo] and scanned it. The images really talk to each other with their similar colours' Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
'I met this woman walking down Ridley Road and was really taken by her plaits and all their colour, and the shape that she'd created. Strangely enough there was a carpet shop nearby where I found similar lines that reminded me of her hair, which is why I juxtaposed these two images. That's something I think is quite special about the neighbourhood – things, people and spaces are really connected' Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
From the Dalston Anatomy series, 2013 Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
'I tried to show the soul and recreate the atmosphere of Ridley Road through its own textiles and materials,’ says Lorenzo Vitturi. ‘Painting was part of my education; I always loved paintings from the 17th century and still lifes, but the difference is here I’m setting more modern, multicultural things in that classic composition – there’s plastic from the market, African porridge, and at the back there is the stomach of an animal, which looks like a sponge’ Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
'I wanted to find one photo that showed the entire market, and found this image of Ridley Road in an old archive of some of the first aerial shots of London. It was amazing to me that the colours seen from above were the same colours I'd found myself throughout the project. It's like a painting of all the things I'd found on the street, and was a perfect way to complete the book' Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
From the Dalston Anatomy series, 2013 Photograph: © Lorenzo Vitturi Courtesy of the artist
