Dear Suzy,
The book you are reading sounds very interesting. Your description prompts me to think about Richard Billingham's photographic work about his family and their life on a council estate. He has access to images that would be hard to make as an outsider.
I think our position is very different to David Hepher's. Through becoming involved in an area, we've tended to become curious about it's history and it's inhabitants. Making work about Thamesmead prompted us to look at local archives, and in E8 we spoke to people. But if we were making work about the Barbican I think we'd be equally interested in the historical and social context. Is it about a more multi-dimensional sense of place?
But how far do we go before joining the troops of 'inauthentic do-gooders'? It is difficult territory to be on.
R