Comments on: So Long, Moyra Peralta

By: Adrian Jackson

Adrian Jackson — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:59:07 +0000

Thanks as ever. She also did seminal pics of the bullring at its height. Always love what u do. When I led Cardboard Citz u featured my great colleague Terry O’Leary. She is v ill now sadly – do u have great pics of her we can share? Adrian

By: David Hoffman

David Hoffman — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:14:13 +0000

Moyra’s book “Nearly Invisible” with its text by John Berger is a gem. My well worn copy is better each time I look at it. She deserved more recognition. A life well lived.
David Hoffman

By: Dorothy V. Malcolm

Dorothy V. Malcolm — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 13:59:46 +0000

Dear gentle author,

Today’s blog brought back so many memories of my working with these people whom I have a heart for. I’ve worked with them at several shelters in the past and I don’t think I will ever get over what they have endured and are often still enduring.

One young man showed me a photo of himself as a 7-year-old boy, smiling under a Christmas tree with toys (in his birth home), and he looked so happy. So many of these people HAD ordinary lives, much like ours, but the fates have often dealt them a dreadful blow, sometimes from substance abuse or emotional issues. I remember Huck who came from an affluent home, and lived under a highway flyover; Billy whose marriage ended, lost his favorite job, then his home, was unwell, and landed on the streets; Ben who was 50 and couldn’t rent a flat because he was habitually unemployed and living rough (yet he genuinely wanted to be housed); the war veterans suffering from PTSD, using drugs/alcohol, depressed, and feel forsaken; and then there are the many whom we’ve assisted in finding a job and a home, only to go back to the streets because it felt more familiar to them.

Many have myriad causes and backgrounds, yet each and every one of them suffers and endures the hardships that come with living on the streets, often on their own terms; some even prefer that life, while others are eager to get back into a warm bed and home.

Each life is so very different–but they all count because they are part of our human race, deserving of moral support and love. God bless them all!

By: Gillian Tindall

Gillian Tindall — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 13:15:53 +0000

I think that Malcolm’s remark that `Spitalfields has been swept away’ may give a false impression to many of your far-flung readers. As all those of us who have been interested in the area for many years well know, though the fruit-and-veg. market has been changed out of all recognition, many of the original streets (which the Post-War Plan was intended to sweep away) were saved in the nick of time by the valient personal efforts of the likes of Dan Cruickshank, Raphael Samuel, Gavin Stamp and others, who squatted the 18thC. houses and successfully repelled the workmen sent in to demolish and rebuild.

By: achim

achim — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:21:41 +0000

This is very sad news for me. The photographer Moyra Peralta was a very passionate woman who not only documented street life and homelessness in the centre of London, but also helped many people in need. She wanted to rescue people from oblivion. She was therefore an artistic social worker.

On 14 June 2014, exactly ten years ago, I received her book “Nearly Invisible” from London, which she dedicated to me. Dear Moyra Peralta (1936-2024), thank you for your wonderful work. May you rest in peace.

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 08:38:23 +0000

Moyra’s photographs of Spitalfields and East London are incredibly important and a powerful indictment of how this area of London, and the people who lived there, were left to rot by successive governments and politicians. I remember Spitalfields in the period of the 1970s – 1980s that Moyra’s photographs bear witness to, I was working in the City and regularly walked around those streets, later in the 1980s I began taking photographs for myself. At that time Spitalfields and the surrounding area was almost Dickensian in its apparent squalor and decrepitude. Decaying and crumbling, uncared for and almost abandoned, and yet, within this tableau of broken streets, the beating heart that was the people never gave up or gave in. Moyra’s photographs tell a story of hope and how people do make a difference. I was lucky enough to meet Moyra once and I treasure the signed copy of her book Nearly Invisible, in which these photographs appear. Spitalfields has now been swept away by corporate interests and avaricious developers, replaced by an anodyne, ugly and souless steel and glass precinct, a landscape without a social heart or any kind of residential soul. But Moyra’s photographs captured something of the heart and soul of Spitalfields and its people in a way that nobody else has ever done. There are many, many photographs of this period around Spitalfields but few really get in as close as Moyra did and show the picture from the inside out. Here are the people that are almost invisible revealed. Thank you Moyra.

By: Andy Strowman

Andy Strowman — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 08:02:18 +0000

Poem to Moyra By Andy Strowman Copyright Dedicated completely to her and the people she helped . You gave these people , Who victorious politicians gave offensive names And showbiz stars had their rear faced luxury flats Blocked off from our community . I lathered in your photographs , And found my childhood again feeling free . Now, you are gone , this pungent world Is still the same . The politicians get in chauffeured cars While some get lathered with thrown over cups of tea. Where are the broken backs of charities now ? Lost in the coffers of the Chief Executive champagne glass . Written on June 13 th 2024

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:24:42 +0000

The resilience of certain human beings constantly impresses me. I hope all of us who’ve never been in this position remember to count our blessings.