Domicide Shanghai

• Photographer
  Simon Butterworth, United Kingdom
• Studio
  Simon Butterworth Photography
• Website
  http://www.simonbutterworthphotography.co.uk

The transformation of Shanghai into a global mega-city has come with a human cost. The
destruction of long-standing neighbourhoods to make way for shopping malls and skyscrapers
is not popular with residents, who often feel inadequately compensated or offered
alternative accomodation only in newly developed suburbs far away from jobs, schools and
family.

While negotiations take place, or alternatively the property is demolished while still
occupied, a stand off is the normal course of events. This has led to the phenomenon of
the 'Nail House', a single house left standing in the middle of a pre-development
wasteland - a building as immovable as a nail driven deep into a piece of wood. Some nail
houses withstand the demolition gangs for years, whilst others last only a few days in the
face of sustained intimidation and dirty tricks. Utilities are disconnected leaving only
the most basic sanitary conditions and the use of illegally pirated electricity.

This series was photographed in several locations across Shanghai and shows how families
are managing to eke out an existance in conditions not far removed from war zones.

I am a landscape photographer based in Scotland.