Fred Robinson and Richard Else are undertaking an intriguing collaborative project about Middlesex. They’ve worked together on all kinds of things in the past, but nothing quite like this. They wanted to explore a place that’s important but usually ignored –and decided they would focus attention on the North West London suburbs, the area covered by the old County of Middlesex.

Many people think of this area as a boring, monocultural suburbia: Metroland. But actually it’s a complex set of communities. It is home to more than two million people and is, in many ways, a successful part of London. It’s ‘multicultural’ and economically vibrant; it includes Heathrow and Wembley, and also Southall and Enfield.  Middlesex may not feature in travellers’ tales, but it actually has a lot going for it.

Fred and Richard want to celebrate the vitality, diversity and importance of this area in a book of photographs (by Richard) and accompanying text (by Fred). They’ve tramped around the area a good deal and gathered a lot of material.

Fred says: ‘We want to show people what the area is really like and why it is worth looking at and thinking about. We hope that the book, and perhaps an exhibition too, will appeal to a wide audience. We want people to think about changing cities and suburbs, geographies and cultures. And we’d like people to find Middlesex as interesting as we do’.