Art & Culture Archives - The Wick https://thisisthewick.com/category/culture/ A new media title dedicated to the creative spirit of Hackney Wick and surrounding neighbourhoods Mon, 13 Nov 2023 17:15:12 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://thisisthewick.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cropped-The-Wick-stacked-32x32.jpg Art & Culture Archives - The Wick https://thisisthewick.com/category/culture/ 32 32 A tale of two Olympic legacies https://thisisthewick.com/culture/tale-two-olympic-legacies/ Sat, 29 Jul 2023 17:02:31 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=2070 As the driving force behind the 'Save Brick Lane' campaign, Saif Osmani fights for East London's marginalised voices. Here he argues that disaffection with the Olympic legacy has reinforced inequalities,
with the arts often used to cover-up social divide

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A tale of two Olympic legacies

  • As the driving force behind the 'Save Brick Lane' campaign, Saif Osmani fights for East London's marginalised voices. Here he argues that disaffection with the Olympic legacy has reinforced inequalities, with the arts often used to cover-up social divide

New buildings on the Olympic Park site are deemed “iconic” before the opening ribbon has been cut. Culture and heritage is being retrofitted like a ‘pop up’ style Chinese or Middle Eastern city inside of London, a leading Western city that prides itself on its history for tourism and even exports. English heritage to reinforce its Britishness.

The newly dubbed Stratford City is postcode E20, resulting in Stratford’s better-known postcode E15 becoming its poorer cousin. I live in E15 and as an artist of British-Bangladeshi background the few creative opportunities that trickle-down have to be fought over. Public commissions often expect me to engage my own, presumed disengaged community which brings up ethical questions like prejudicial assumptions and access to resources for underserved communities.

I was artist-in-residence at a university located at Here East in E20 during which I took MA students, local artists and communities to explore the divide between postcodes E20 and E15 The resulting exhibition, called Connecting the two sides of Stratford, almost didn’t happen. Estate managers wanted to pull it at the last minute, but they had agreed to host the exhibition as part of Newham’s first Heritage Month in 2018, so it finally took place stretching outside on hoarding in the Here East yard.

Local communities from the surrounding areas attended because it was a reflection about their lived experiences. The following year the outdoor hoardings was covered up with acceptable graffiti showing Disney characters and my emails to managers were not being returned. Locals felt unwelcome here at Here East.

In E20 the arts are being used to underpin building development on steroids. Digital advertisement boards show a toxically positive environment where dreams are to be realised inside world-class cultural and media establishments yet to come. However change in the surrounding four boroughs is incremental with an ever increasing divide of widening social inequalities where culture and heritage is systematically being eroded.

For locals, the trickle-down economics of capitalism promises benefits resulting in increased house prices we’re told, but many families cannot afford to relocate having spent years building community networks, and with it a localised heritage.

Once the Olympics was announced the word Legacy came part and parcel. The International Olympics Committee delegates were shown a sea of financially poor black, Asian and working class white faces and within five years a mammoth £8.8bn funnelled into a two week-long event.

Local people complained that they were being denied access to the Games. Any critical voices were locked up for protesting, like Trenton Oldfield, founder of This Is Not A Gateway Festival whose public talks offered alternative viewpoints around the changes taking place. The Workshop Bar at the Theatre Royal Stratford East stocked up 30% extra goods but the footfall didn’t result in paying customers, instead losing 30%, with pick-up still remaining slow.

Creativity had been stretched too quickly here, and there were always going to be victims. Today there are no signs of any dissidence on the E15-E20 border, just disaffection, heritage-washing, zealots giving out free Bibles and Qurans and endless shop ’til you drop experiences.

During an early morning croissant-clad breakfast held inside a smelly fish factory on the border of Hackney, artists living in and near Vittoria Wharf (see p.6) complained that it was a case of survival or to leave London. Months later Vittoria Wharf was part demolished and replaced with a rustic new footbridge, brutally connecting the E20 site to Hackney. Biased consultations and subsequent demolitions are traumatic for embedded communities, resulting in a destruction of their collective memory and their own emergent legacies.

Around the same time Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets was demolished with a small section of the building kept like an object in a cabinet of curiosities for future intellectuals and voyeurs to ponder over at the V&A. The context was being removed from local people: the East End was ripe for looting, just like the historic actions of Imperialistic and colonial pursuits in Africa and Asia.

As local people and artists we feel inspired by spaces that aren’t the neoliberal places constructed by computer generated off-the-peg designs that try and tell us who we are through representations on large digital screens. Recently an artist displaced by the Olympics wanted to revisit 2012 but was at a loss: “I am still unsure what I feel about what happened” he said. In the decade-long narrative around the Olympics Legacy what’s telling is what has survived and what is still under threat in the manic movement of international financial capital into the poor and needy East End.

For the working-class, ethnic minority communities and for artists, successful places are where lived experiences create localised heritage and with it a genuine legacy starts to emerge – these people and places need to be nurtured and protected like the recent ‘Save Brick Lane’ campaign highlights.

The Greater Carpenters Estate Neighbourhood Plan shows that the Focus E15 Mothers can be accommodated locally and the longevity of Queen’s Market in Upton Park proves it can be refurbished without demolition, yet these struggles also highlight that the Olympic Legacy is only too willing to use the spectre of displacement against local embedded communities that has started a postcode war between E20 and its surrounding communities.

Saif Osmani is a visual artist and architectural designer living and working in East London and a graduate of UCL Bartlett. He is a co-founder of Bengali East End Heritage Society. Recent projects include Cockney Conversations Month 2022 and the ‘Save Brick Lane’ campaign. Follow him: @saifosmani

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]]> The unexpected legacy: East London’s Dance Scene https://thisisthewick.com/culture/unexpected-legacy-dance-hackney-wick/ Tue, 31 Jan 2023 15:10:44 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1241 Among all the lofty aspirations for what should follow London 2012, nobody guessed that dance would end up one of the area’s biggest success stories

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The unexpected legacy: East London’s Dance Scene

  • Among all the lofty aspirations for what should follow London 2012, nobody guessed that dance would end up one of the area’s biggest success stories

East London’s unplanned transformation into the city’s dance hotspot has been something to behold. As guest editor Jonzi D says in his intro, prior to the London 2012 Olympics we were bursting with home-grown talent, but with limited resources and spaces in which to showcase it all. When Mayor Sadiq Khan unveiled his £1.1bn vision for an assemblage of creative establishments along the East Bank in 2018, it set up East London’s role in nurturing the burgeoning groups of local dancers, with the likes of BBC Music, London College of Fashion, V&A and Sadler’s Wells setting anchor along the river, as well as funding and support going into the cluster of dance institutions that had persevered in the area over the years.

One such institution that has been part of the local redevelopment is Stratford-based charity, East London Dance. Established 33 years ago, they continue to administer change in their community. “Our mission has always been to celebrate dance and people that love dance in East London”, says Creative Director and Chief Executive, Kate Scanlan. “We’re a grassroots introduction to dance for children and young people and support local dance professionals with space and investment in their work.” 

Previously based in Stratford Circus, the charity recently made a permanent move to The Talent House in Sugar House Island, with Sadiq Khan attending the charity’s joint opening with non-profit Black youth music supporters UD Music. The new home comes with more studio space, making the charity better able to deliver its programmes to a wider group. Classes encompass varying styles from Bollywood to hip hop. 

They’ve recently launched a scheme where artists can hire empty studios for free: “they’re not always full, so rather than having studios sit empty, we’re developing relationships with artists,” says Kate. The team send out a weekly schedule of free studio availability, which would normally cost £400 a day. They also go out into the community, teaching in schools and using a pupil-referral programme. “We’re trying to reconnect with local people and artists and people that don’t know they love dance, who might discover that their kids would love to do dance.” 

Nearby, Here East is now an immense media complex, home to several creative and technological hubs and one of London’s newest creative campuses: LMA (Love Media, Love Music, Love Arts). With a range of arts degrees for young creatives, courses include Dance Performance, Musical Theatre and Music Performance. It is also home to world-renowned dance company, Studio Wayne McGregor, brainchild of the multi award-winning choreographer and director. The campus, comprising of three state-of-the-art dance studios and multiple hireable spaces, offers programmes, projects and daily classes for students, dance graduates and professionals. They too have a FreeSpace programme for artists, who can give back to their local community by delivering a project or a class and sharing their skills. 

Similarly, internationally acclaimed Sadler’s Wells now offers workshops, clubs and programmes. “We’re an organisation focused on dance and the future of dance, “says Sadler’s Wells Executive Director, Britannia Morton. “We present different styles from around the world and we’re constantly looking for new forms to present to the public. We try and keep ticket prices accessible to make sure everyone can come and enjoy what we do.” 

Known for their globally recognised productions, the Islington-based organisation has proven itself a pillar in the dance community, offering programmes open to all. Their Company of Elders, for example, comprises of twenty non-professional dancers aged 60+, while Family Fridays workshops see children aged 2-4 and their carers dance together. With Sadler’s Wells East set to open on the East Bank in November 2023, the organisation plans to further implement opportunities to involve locals in dance, this time in Newham. The organisation hopes to become “part of the fabric of the place, and a resource for people,” says Britannia.

“We’re interested in lifelong participation in dance and making sure that the creative and well-being benefits of dance are made accessible to everybody.” The new branch is described as being more intimate in scale than Sadler’s Wells. “It doesn’t have tiers of seating, so you all feel like you’re in a room together, rather than a very big theatre.” Sadler’s Wells East will also include six dance studios to service their Hip Hop Academy (for dancers age 16-18) as well as new choreographic training, and the creation of new work. Plans are already in motion for the opening, as their new production, Our Mighty Groove, directed and choreographed by Vicki Igbokwe, will be kicking things off in the new year, giving the opportunity for young local dancers to join professionals onstage at the launch. “We want to have a programme in Stratford that showcases work that’s created locally, but also national work that needs that size of stage. Work that doesn’t really get to London or is presented in the wrong place.” 

Dubbed ‘London’s building of the year’, English National Ballet’s new home, The Mulyran Centre for Dance opened in September 2019 at nearby London City Island, bringing training opportunities, accessible facilities and a new space for locals. The reputable charity
has expanded its local engagement, with workshops available to children from ages 3+, family dance workshops, Dance for Parkinson’s classes and their dance companies, ENBYouthCo (for ages 14-19) and ENBEldersCo (55+). 

Their Ballet Futures: The Pipeline Project was introduced to encourage young dancers from Black, Brown, Asian and global majority backgrounds to participate in professional ballet training. Children between 8-12 can expect free weekly training at their local dance school, support towards shoes and school uniform and opportunities to work with ENB dancers. Their recent partnership with The Black British Ballet Project promises a celebration and documentation of Black dancers, their objective: to record and recognise historical moments and experiences of Black dancers, choreographers and artists in British ballet in the past century. 

“In the last 10 years, a big change since the Olympics is that an organisation like ours could have our own building,” says Kate. “And that the GLA, the mayor’s office, the Arts Council, and various other trusts and foundations have invested in small organisations from East London. The Olympics has shown that there is a lot of untapped talent, a lot of richness and diversity of culture that need spaces. That is a real Olympic legacy; local people deserve these world class facilities.” 

Funding and support has been pivotal in financing these organisations and projects, as has their openness to collaborating and their championing of each other. “Nobody’s competing. We’re all here to help each other succeed”, says Britannia. 

If there’s anything we’ve learned in the last decade, it’s that given the chance, East London can encapsulate the true meaning of creativity. Its redevelopment speaks truth to the cultural bloom we are witnessing in real-time.

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]]> The Wicked One: Annette Zera https://thisisthewick.com/culture/wicked-one-annette-zera/ Wed, 30 Nov 2022 14:38:21 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1221 From preserving artist studios by co-founding Mother X to her work running the UK’s Bangladesh Education Trust, we meet a true local artist and activist

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The Wicked One: Annette Zera

  • From preserving artist studios by co-founding Mother X to her work running the UK’s Bangladesh Education Trust, we meet a true local artist and activist

How did you come to be in Hackney Wick (HWFI)?
I’ve been here 12 years, having found out about the area by visiting an open studio. I ended up talking to an artist about how much they were paying at Mother Studios and couldn’t believe how cheap it was. It really made me think I could work here too, so I joined the waiting list. 

It’s quite sad, actually. The studios used to be run by a lady called Jo, who went bankrupt. The landlords took over and did all sorts of good things to the building; they repainted the corridors and gave us hot water which was great. But they also tried to put the rent up hugely, so myself and others here led a campaign against that, and we won! Our rent was frozen for three years. There’s something really special about tenants rallying together to explain to their landlord they have nowhere else to go, but also cannot afford the rent increase, so what are you going to do to help us? 

The last exhibition I did was before the pandemic at Stour Space, with my stepdaughter who is a ceramicist. I like to have exhibitions roughly every two years, as that way I’m not under a lot of pressure but I’m also not dead! It’s great to have something to work towards as well. 

What changes have you seen in the area?
It’s funny how change can be so incremental that you hardly even notice it. There are some things that make me feel very sad. If I walk from here to Two More Years (formerly Stour Space), the blocks of flats I pass are so close together that there is hardly any natural light between them. There was an opportunity to build something wonderful, not just see how many people you can squeeze in and how much money you can make. It’s not all like that but there are too many examples of that here and around London. 

But also, some things just don’t change. The view from my studio window hasn’t changed in the slightest since I moved here. 

What aspect of HWFI do you love the most?
If I look out of my studio window I can see my favourite building, the London Aquatics Centre (designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher). I think it is so beautiful. It is meant to be modelled on a stingray, which is so appropriate for a swimming pool. The Olympic Park itself has just been a wonderful addition to the area. Sometimes you get the feeling that it is getting squeezed from both sides, but it’s still there. 

What would you like the future to hold for HWFI?
It’s hard to know in these terribly uncertain times what is going to happen and how things will change. It’s a bit biblical to say that without a vision people will perish. But the extraordinary thing about this area is that there has never been a vision, there’s been a selection of interests. Maybe it’s no bad thing that all these things jostle up against each other. But capitalism is in such an awful state and it’s the leading influence in this area. It decides how land will be used, whether people can run their cafés and so on, so I’d like to see more stability for the people living and working here. It’s no good all these developers having empty properties. So many places have closed; Pearl and Mother most recently. It would be great for them to have a competition for local people to come up with ideas about what to do with these spaces. 

Tell us your favourite HWFI hangouts, and why?

Being an artist is funny, we’re almost like hermit crabs. I come into my studio, shut the door and on I go. I used to always go to Stour Space for lunch and I am so happy to hear that the space is still open under new management (Two More Years), but what is equally as lovely is this hermit crab thing of being utterly reclused and surrounded by your work.

I really miss the old graffiti that used to cover the Lord Napier. They had some of the best graffiti years ago. It was witty and funny. Like at the top when it read ‘From Shithouse to Penthouse’. It was just fantastic. 

What inspires you in your work?

I never went to art school. I’ve always been what is often called an ‘outsider’. Back in the 90s I had a job that was difficult and stressful. That’s when I started painting,
it was like a relief from the reality of my job. My work is always about play and just seeing what will happen during the process. The number one thing that interests me is how we get on with each other, how we get the best out of each other. For me, painting is the same kind of thing: how can I make these colours sit with each other and grow together and have some significance for me, if not for anybody else? It does end up being a frustratingly slow process though. 

I’m hoping to do something around landscapes and climate change in the future. My eldest son’s job is all about climate change and bringing people together to share ideas about potential solutions. We talk about that a lot and so it has a big influence on me. What
he is trying to achieve is absolutely possible. But it is so dreadful underneath it all, the thought that the soil will erode in 30 years’ time. But at the same time, where there is life there is hope. So that’s spinning around in my head at the moment. 

The main materials I use are loose weave cotton, paper and string and anything else that comes to hand. For our upcoming Open Studio I’m hoping to have a massive sale. I’m sure it’s true for a lot of artists, we accumulate works that we don’t want displayed again but are quite fond of and would love for them to be out in the world. 

Who do you think is a true HWFI hero?
There used to be an artist here called Christina BanBan, she left around the beginning of the pandemic, but she is amazing and now her work is world famous. There are all sorts of wonderful people who come and go here, and it’s great to be able to meet all these different and talented artists. 

How would you describe HWFI to someone who has never visited before?
I don’t think I would be able to rise to the occasion. People always talk about HWFI as a community. I’m not sure that I have ever completely believed in that. That’s not to say that there aren’t lots of communities here, because there are. But as an artist, we are so individualistic; you would not describe this corridor (in the studios) as vibrant – yet it can be, especially during open studios events! Sometimes in the winter, when it’s all dark outside and all the lights start going on in the flats, I almost want to wave at them. And it’s weird because in reality this is just where I work and that is where they live. But it isn’t like anywhere else, and that’s the truth of it. There are so many people doing different things here; whether it’s art galleries or community centres or people trying to grasp this notion of community spirit. It’s extraordinary that all those things come together, but it’s not always coherent. 

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]]> Lord of the Digital Dance: Alexander Whitley https://thisisthewick.com/culture/digital-dance-alexander-whitley/ Mon, 28 Nov 2022 13:20:25 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1124 Alexander Whitley choreographs his work incorporating the latest digital platforms, pushing the creative needle of contemporary dance ever forwards

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Lord of the Digital Dance: Alexander Whitley

  • Alexander Whitley choreographs his work incorporating the latest digital platforms, pushing the creative needle of contemporary dance ever forwards

You had an esteemed dance training – do you still draw from that today?
I did have a very specific training, in the Royal Ballet School, which is very thorough from a young age. That is great in a lot of respects, but as my career progressed I found myself shifting away from that specific form of movement. It’s technicality still informs my work, even though I’ve branched out to explore a lot of different approaches to thinking about and devising movement. 

When did you start incorporating digital aspects in your practice?
I grew up in a household where computers were very prominent, as my dad was really keen on the latest tech. It wasn’t until I started thinking seriously about my own career as a choreographer that I began taking interest in the work of people like Wayne McGregor, who has been pioneering in his incorporation of other forms of media and technology in his practice. The big turning point was the release of the Microsoft Kinect, the motion tracking device developed for the Xbox games. It completely changed how digital artists work. That was around 2011, I was just starting to work independently and having early conversations with people like my brother-in-law Robin, from Hackney Wick’s own Marshmallow Laser Feast, on how technology could be used in my choreography. We then collaborated on a few projects. 

One of the most interesting things has been seeing how my practice has developed alongside developments in technology. It challenges me to think about presenting dance in different ways. Ultimately, having these new tools, particularly motion tracking technology, enables participation in dance by the general public in ways that brings them closer into the experience of a dancer. That is really exciting, as it gives access to a form of art that perhaps previously tended to be a bit too elitist. 

Do you think that is one of the key reasons you’re drawn to innovating with technology?
The marrying of traditional practice with this technology puts dance in a really exciting new context, something that hopefully appeals to different audiences, like younger people who might not conventionally have gone to see dance. It invites a different kind of conversation around what we do that I find refreshing and interesting, so has become a fundamentally important part of the practice. 

How did the disruption of Covid, including the switch to online learning and meeting, impact your company?
Obviously the pandemic was massively challenging for everyone in so many respects, but it also came with a lot of opportunity. Because of the nature of the work we’ve been making for an entire decade, we were able to pivot and continue to work creatively. We could present our work in a way that many other companies weren’t able to, because of the existing integration with digital technology. A lot of interest came our way as a result, since we were some of the few people in the industry with relevant experience. More people now understand the challenges of working with tech, and hopefully have a better appreciation of what it takes to make it work. It’s often a really painful, challenging, expensive process toget to those kinds of flashy outcomes. 

Is there a project you’ve worked on where you’ve wondered how you were going to get through it?
Yeah, almost every project. Nothing ever goes according to plan, like life in general. The rule I’ve found is that digital technology often doesn’t do what you expect or want it to. Over time we’ve learned how to plan projects in a way that takes account of potential challenges, because so often we’re designing and building a system from scratch. I’m developing a lot of things that are bespoke to the requirements of the show, because that’s the only way that you can create things that are creatively and artistically unique, and of value. For example, on the piece we’re touring at the moment, Anti-Body, (which will be playing locally at Sadler’s Wells in October), we developed it steadily in a way that allows us time to test and understand what improvements we then need to make to get closer to the intended outcome. In this piece we’re using live motion tracking, and there’s an awful lot of interaction between the performers and the visuals. In a system like that, where each element is dependent on the other, if one thing isn’t working it’s really hard to correct the other.

Are there others who you regularly collaborate with?
Yes, there’s a developer called Luca Biada and his company Fenyce who have been consistent and incredibly valuable collaborators for five years. We’ve worked a lot with Uncharted Limbo Collective, digital artists who developed the visuals for Anti- Body, plus some motion capture films during the pandemic and augmented reality experiences. 

It’s about the creative relationship, but also us getting the most out of the investment put into building new technology in the first place. 

Is there a format you feel has more importance because of how it might connect with audiences?
The pandemic shone a light on the frustrations we all experienced looking at people through screens, and all of the information that’s lost – the subtleties to communication. Technology is throwing out these new possibilities that we’re awkwardly experiencing, and trying to understand and figure out why they feel weird and strange. Of course there’s always going to be something valuable and engaging about going to a live venue and seeing a beautiful performance and this will 100% continue to exist. Often people fear that developments in technology are going to replace these traditional forms, but actually what’s far more likely – and a much better way to think about things, too – is to look at them as complementary alternatives. They provide different possibilities, with advantages and disadvantages. 

My interests are in understanding each platform in a way that tries to tease out the good parts. There’s always a danger you fall into the trap of producing something that’s just showing off the capabilities of the technology rather than taking people beyond. 

In your own personal life, how do you use movement to tap into yourself?
I do a lot of yoga and meditation which I find increasingly helpful just to keep myself mentally grounded in my hectic working and family life. I’ve got two small children, so it’s about carving out that little bit of time to come back into the quietness of my inner life. It throws in additional challenges, but that’s where having a career connected to the body and movement is really helpful, because I have those tools readily available to turn to when I need a little help to keep sane. 

What other projects can we expect from you next?
We’re working on a new production in collaboration with Neal Coghlan, who’s also a Hackney Wick resident, called Future Rites. It’s based on the Rite of Spring, originally
by Stravinsky and an amazingly impactful piece of work. It’s over 100 years old and there have been countless reinterpretations of it choreographed, so I’ve always been curious about how I might approach it. We’ve been working on a virtual reality experience, testing some prototypes over the last couple of years, something that will hopefully be launching in 2024. Using VR, we can then invite the public to take part in the dance alongside the performers. 

We’re also exploring some ideas for hopefully putting on a small festival here in Hackney Wick around the idea of dance and digital technology. I started a project at the beginning of lockdown called The Digital Body Project, on a bit of a whim, but grew into something a lot more than I’d expected. It has been the basis of a lot of new relationships that we’ve developed with other artists and institutions, like the London College of Fashion, who are also moving to Stratford soon. The idea of trying to bring together these different strands of our work and invite other artists working in the same kind of areas to present what they do, ideally putting on some talks and workshops too, is something that I’m really keen to explore. It feels like Hackney Wick is the really ideal place to do it, too, because there are these new institutions moving in on the East Bank and at Here East who should feel the responsibility to engage with the local community and show what they have to bring to the area. But also, there are just so many really interesting people in the area that are all working away behind closed doors, so we hope to use it as a way to bring them all together.

Discover more about Alexander and his work, plus details of upcoming productions at: alexanderwhitley.com

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]]> Knitting the Community https://thisisthewick.com/culture/knitting-the-community/ Sat, 12 Nov 2022 14:24:43 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1201 It’s important that big incoming organisations invest their sizable public realm budgets locally, as these projects demonstrate

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Knitting the Community

  • It’s important that big incoming organisations invest their sizable public realm budgets locally, as these projects demonstrate

This winter in the neighbourhood, you’ll find some creative developments from up-and-coming artists. Yarn bombs are wrapping our trees thanks to local artist and designer Rosina Godwin, and we can also expect the Red Path to be revamped by a promising artist from the area. With the resources that big organisations have at their disposal, it is vital they provide opportunities for commissions to the artists of their community, and the chance to make a real impact. 

Since 2021, Stratford’s Endeavour Square has housed 20 fruit trees as part of the area’s climate innovation mission. Now that the frosty months of the year have arrived, International Quarter London (IQL) have coated up the trees with their first ever ‘yarn bomb’ project. 

Local artist and designer Rosina Godwin has reclaimed the space with a personal touch. The fluffy face of graffiti marks its presence as the collection brings knitted bands intended to meander between the branches, and custom pieces specially designed to accommodate the tree trunks. Rosina repurposes knitwear, such as used woollen sweaters, to create these vibrant tree trunk socks that encourage sustainability by highlighting inventive uses of recycled materials. Rosina’s ideas celebrate knitting and creativity by reclaiming and redefining what we do with our previously used clothing. The work combines fresh knitting with vintage pieces to demonstrate the artistic potential of recycled knitwear as well as the beauty of darning and mending. 

Over the summer Rosina led Darn for Yarn local workshops, including one at the Olympic Park’s The Great Get Together back in July, where children and adults from the local community stitched their own very personal designs onto the custom-designed tree socks ready for the yarn bomb.

The project is about more than just a pretty installation however; Rosina really hopes it acts as a source of inspiration, too. “I hope the project will attract visitors to IQL’s mobile orchard, add a bold pop of colour and brighten the space through the long winter months,” she says. “If by seeing my yarn bomb it encourages visitors to have a go at knitting and create their own pieces from recycled textiles I would be absolutely thrilled.” 

The hand-knitted pieces come in a variety of geometric and striped patterns, meaning all twenty trees come to life with some very eye- catching motifs, all inspired by the nearby architecture. IQL’s colours of magenta, orange, blue, and green are combined in the work, aimed to celebrate colour in a variety of scales and configurations, from the towering buildings to the delicate branches of the trees. 

Techniques such as numerical art have been utilised; look out for lucky numbers such as 7 and 8, and the numbers 12 and 20, significant to the local area. The knitted art looks to draw upon our seasonal sensibilities and act as a source of warmth and joy.

Zenab Mumtaz, Socio-Economic Development Manager at Lendlease confirms their “overarching ambition is to have a meaningful impact on communities, and particularly to find ways that we can upskill people into jobs and careers. That’s why the workshop element of this project was so important,” she says, “and something that we’d like to scale up for future initiatives. By linking activations to our education projects, they can have wider, deeper impact and mean our public spaces truly serve the community.”

Rosina’s work for this commission has subverted the norms surrounding knitting and debunked the myth that it is exclusively a grandma’s hobby. Now more than ever, increasing numbers of young people are having a go at knitting as we also see this rise in youth fashion trends. Given the current environmental crisis, the yarn bomb project can be characterised as a peaceful protest: a fun and light hearted way to address the issues at hand. The project brings the space to life with a new twist, and inspires knitting as a fun and creative sustainable outlet for all types of people to try.

Catch the project any time day or night until 16th April at The Mobile Orchard, Endeavour Square, Stratford.

Public Realm Framework:
Improving the Red Path
Hackney Quest are working on plans to improve the Red Path in Hackney Wick. In a bid to make it safer, more attractive, and more functional, they have the support of the council and the local police Safer Neighbourhood Team, among others. 

Local residents and those that use the route are encouraged to participate in the survey to communicate what they would like to see improved, added or changed to the path. The survey can also be accessed via QR code which has been attached to multiple posters along the way. The survey marks a positive step for the council, which encourages better improvements, with local people having real input and tangible opportunities to make a difference. 

Area Regeneration Manager, Mathieu Rogers, states that the ambition for this piece of work is to “help Hackney Wick and Fish Island (HW&FI) to transition to a more sustainable, accessible, robust and legible environment, where the public realm enhances the creative potential of the area and creates space for communities to thrive. Particularly to advance the arts and culture.” 

Through research undertaken by Hackney Quest in 2018, and by the RiseUpEast consortium in 2022, young people have consistently identified Red Path as a place that they do not feel safe. Met Police data indicates that there tend to be at least a handful of crimes committed on or near the path each month. Red Path was identified as an unsafe place during the recent ‘Safety of women and girls in Hackney’ consultation undertaken by the council, too – where it was described as “dark, quiet and remote”, or “isolated and dark” for instance.

Young Hackney recently opened a new youth hub and sports facility behind the Old Baths on Eastway. In fact, the Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) has just won an New London Architecture wellbeing award. Therefore, the Red Path is an important pedestrian route to this new local facility, but its lack of safety is blocking people accessing it as a way to get to important local centres that help enrich young people in the community. 

In accordance with the public’s concerns, the council aims to recreate the path as one of safety and a place people enjoy to be in its own right. Plans are in place to improve the lighting and fix the fencing on either side. This is particularly significant for women who don’t feel safe walking alone when it’s dark. Additionally, in order to get the local community involved and provide opportunities for young people, the council hopes to commission a talented artist to create a mural/ art project for the walls of the path in order to rejuvenate the space. 

Other projects such as The World Reimagined – a creative sculpture trail across England, that responds to themes about racial injustice – has also been a product of the work of local artists, see: theworldreimagined.org

Such projects are only the beginning of a call to action for local organisations to provide artists in their community unique opportunities to be commissioned. Because without them our trees would be cold, and our paths unsafe and unsightly.

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It’s important not to paint LLDC as the big, bad, development wolf. The remit of this organisation is simply huge. All over Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are testaments to the successful legacy LLDC hopes to create. There are many moving parts, and over time, there will be millions of beating hearts.

 

The Hothouse is a name given to a cute little mini-Kew Gardens temperate house installed in the International Quarter London’s shiny new build. In it are fruit which the architects suggest will grow outdoors in Britain in 2050 if the current climate change forecasts come to pass. There is an oak planted in a Great British Garden, in the shadow of the London stadium. The oak was seeded at Kew Gardens. Fingers crossed it grows big and mighty, like all oaks should. An Olympic oak, around which millions of people will be inspired, in a thriving landscape, filled with a vibrant community, helping to turn the wheels of a massive vision; East London 2.0 – a world class hub of education, arts, culture and innovation.

So that’s how we all play a part in creating a sustainable future; our town planners do their bit, and we can do ours. Pop yourself on an allotment waiting list, and in the meantime, grow pea shoots on your windowsill. Wildflowers will attract those all-important bees. Buy local vegetables from East London’s many growing schemes and small farmers. Throw your seeds out on the street in a bit of guerrilla gardening. 

If you don’t have the privilege of a sunlight-facing seed box, then simply put on your flip flops and jog on to the marshes where free food is available from Mother Nature. Wood ear fungus, chickweed and hairy bitter cress, laced with blackcurrant sage and pretty violet flowers, that’s what John the Poacher might gather on a day’s foraging. His iconic name comes from his youth; he still ferrets for rabbits on farmland and will happily catch you one to order.

“My parents were proper religious. All creatures great and small; I say eat the lot of them all,” John told me over a cheeky liquid lunch at The Cock Tavern in Hackney. He is proud of his own legacy. His foraging has played a part in many an East London success story, from the elderflower he provided for Square Root’s popular cola, to the fennel seeds he harvested for Land Chocolate. “One man’s waste is another man’s gold,” he tells me. “When I drop seeds off at Land Chocolate, I pick up their waste of bean husks, which I take to beer makers.” 

The poorest parts of the world provide an important example of the circular economy; at the bottom of the human food chain are the litter pickers, who harvest what can be sold. Can John’s lesson in waste disposal teach us anything? Could our litter bins actually be goldmines? Our buildings actually generate energy? The answer is a very firm yes. A circular economy which may see less waste, less haste; that’s the dream. 

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]]> The Wicked One: Mai Nguyen Tri https://thisisthewick.com/culture/wicked-one-mai-nguyen-tri/ Wed, 02 Nov 2022 13:33:09 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1169 On her passion for Japan's dance theatre style Butoh, the creative community and performing in the streets

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The Wicked One: Mai Nguyen Tri

  • On her passion for Japan's dance theatre style Butoh, the creative community and performing in the streets
  • Jacob Fairless Nicholson
  • Hackney Wick Boulder Project / Helen Murray / Camilla Greenwell

Tell us about what you do?
I come from a literary background and also trained in all kinds of dance. I found I was more attracted to choreography and being a dance artist rather than a performer for other people’s ideas. For me, my work is about writing stories in a physical way. Then I discovered Butoh and realised it was what I was already, before knowing what it was called. It sounds strange, but the beauty of Butoh is that it’s very hard to describe and define. It’s not set in any specific steps or aesthetic. Butoh is an interesting combination of being both very Japanese and anti-Japanese at the same time. It’s also very primal and visceral. 

What motivates you and how do you choreograph performances? Usually, I need a mini poem or story like a Haiku or a three-sentence fairytale to give the sense of a narrative: a beginning, a climax in the middle and then the ending. These come from very simple themes like the cycle of life. It’s quite primal and energetic but also very zen. 

As a choreographer, I base my performances on structured improvisation. I never set specific steps as a conventional dancer would, so no two pieces will ever be the same. Even though my performance is mainly inspired by Butoh, I am also an improviser. It’s a very specific way of being creative. It doesn’t mean I go out and do my thing without any preparation, it actually requires a lot more closeness with your collaborators. 

Do you make costumes yourself?
I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by a lot of very gifted fashion designers. My daughter-in-law, Rebecca George is a beautiful designer and often designs for me. I often collaborate with her and my son who has been a very close collaborator of mine since he was 15 and made music pieces for me, so it’s nice having the three of us collaborate together.

How did you come to be in Hackney Wick & Fish Island?
All my friends are here, all my creativity, and my children and grandchildren all live here. It’s hard for people because the gentrification is heartbreaking. I spend less time here than I used to because I have a market stall every weekend in Brick Lane. But most days of the week I’m here. What first attracted me was the sense of community. Even though I love being in the big city, I like the village feeling of Hackney Wick and that when I go from A to B I end up saying hello to 20 people along the way. It makes me feel secure, like I’m part of something and I like being part of a tribe.

What aspects of HWFI do you love most?
As an artist, I never felt I could quite fit in the London art and dance world. I need to have that human connection to be able to start my own wave of creativity. Performing in Hackney Wick, I met lots of people who were like-minded and fitted into my own sensibility and creativity. I liked how it was this little island tucked away and hidden from the world. 

I find that local artists have this desire to incorporate their art into their way of living, which is really me. As a Butoh artist I can’t contain my art into a 9-5 thing. I like being able to jam in the middle of the day, in the middle of the street, if the impulse is there. 

What simple change would improve things here?
Hackney Wick should have been better protected. This area has a lot of great artists yet many others had to move out and that should never have been allowed. This community is very special, and that hasn’t gone from the area but, it has also been joined by different vibes.

Tell us your favourite local hangouts, and why?
I’d have to say GROW. I don’t spend as much time here as I used to, but I love hanging out in the alleyway, it’s where I meet all of my friends and go from one warehouse to another. 

What has the area taught you about life?
This freedom that we have in our heart, our creativity and lifestyle, I think it’s important to remember that it’s there as an abstract ethos and it binds us together no matter if you’re in Hackney Wick or New Zealand or anywhere else in the world. I think one purpose of art is to do that, to express and spread the message of how you want life and human connections to be. That’s why I like Butoh so much. 

What do you feel is your greatest achievement ?
I’m proud that people connect so intensely with my performances. I don’t like to perform just for myself and can’t unless an audience gives their commitment to me, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. I like to surprise people and adapt my performance to who’s in front of me. Butoh can be quite scary at times, and I love children so don’t want to scare them, but I do scare them sometimes! 

What is it about watching one of your shows that scares them? Sometimes Butoh is referred to as the dance of darkness. The concept is that you don’t want to show beauty, like your typical dance performance. Instead, you want to show humanity, and it can be ugly and grotesque. 

Who inspires you around here?
Definitely the guys from Fear of Fluffing for their huge multi-talents and creativity in music, costumes, masks, multi-media works, live music, impulsivity and how they include their art in their lifestyle and ethos. They’ve been one of my most important collaborators here. 

Pete Bennett for his multi-talents as a visual artist and rock musician with his band the O’DUBLO, his clever punk activist approach to art and community projects and his work organizing events and bringing local people together. 

Jordanna Greaves (co-founder of GROW and visual artist) and Yolanda Antonopoulou (founder and manager of the Old Baths Café and Gaia Pulses) both venue founders as well as inspiring local art event organizers, for their gentle and powerful feminine leadership and commitment to ethical and eco- friendly businesses. 

Kevin Headley, our kind angel and Big Issue magazine seller (now deceased, his blue plaque is on the wall of the Lord Napier). And my family, I admire my son and three grandchildren, all Hackney Wick residents and local artists, dancers and musicians. They already inspire me with their arts, performing skills and commitment to the underground art ethos and their natural easiness with the art of jamming, sharing arts and human connections.

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]]> Guest Editor: Jonzi D https://thisisthewick.com/culture/guest-editor-jonzi-d/ Wed, 12 Oct 2022 12:52:13 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1097 The UK's leading advocate for hip hop dance shares his dance story and tells The Wick about the Hip Hop Theatre Academy opening in the Olympic Park

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Guest Editor: Jonzi D

  • The UK's leading advocate for hip hop dance shares his dance story and tells The Wick about the Hip Hop Theatre Academy opening in the Olympic Park

Bow was my dance cradle, where I was born and bred as the youngest of six children, who could all dance. My Grenadian parents danced to calypso music, so I danced before I was even born – to the rhythm of my mum’s heartbeat. My brother was a well-known club dancer in his day, nicknamed Chopper, because of his big toothy grin. As a child, I’d watch him in the bedroom jamming to jazz funk music and I was awestruck. I loved the way he used his bandana, not only to wipe the sweat from his brow, but also as a prop to dance with. 

East London has a strong club dance history. From the late 70s, a style known as ‘boogie’ dominated the dance floors of the jazz funk and soul scene. The legendary TORSO; featuring Bow brothers Bassey and Norman Walker, Oiley, Mohammed Yermak amongst others, were a major part of this, and one of the first dance groups of this generation to be immortalised on film. Another East London dance group, Unknown Kwantity, appeared in videos by David Grant and Jaki Graham, featuring Lesley Michel and Vin Murray. These local stars were a major part of my upbringing as they were cool, so slick, and really represented the club dance scene at the time. 

Once I was old enough to leave the house on my own, it was hip hop culture that really grabbed me. My brother Tim introduced me to music by The Sugar Hill Gang, and the Soul Sonic Force. I felt like breaking and popping belonged to me. It was created by, and for, the children. As a 13-year-old, watching kids that looked like me on TV spinning on their backs, head-spinning in fat laced pumas, I remember thinking ‘this ain’t for adults’! They were fearless – particularly to do that on concrete. More than just a dance, breaking was also a weapon that we used to defeat opponents that was always better than using knives. As a crew of b-boys, we were able to navigate through rival territories, avoiding violent beef between actual roadmen. I felt lucky to be a dancer; it was like a shield. 

Pervez, the globally known old skool b-boy, has been training in the Stratford shopping centre since back in the day in 1983, when things were extremely territorial. Getting into these circles (pun intended) wasn’t straightforward. Not everyone was welcome. I guess when sharpening tools you have to be careful they’re not used against you. Pervez is still training there nearly 40 years on. But Covent Garden was the nucleus of London hip hop culture in the early 80s, where we’d travel from East London to link other hip hoppers from different parts of the capital, the UK and the world. I saw people like the late Sipho, an amazing b-boy and beatboxer from East London and an original member of rap group the London Posse. 

The West End club scene was popping off and we’d party hard in places like the Opera House, Babylon and Too Dam Funky at the Wag Club. There wasn’t much boogie in East London at the time, as clubs like Shenola’s were more reggae, lovers’ rock and rare groove. Over the last 20 years, west central London has become proper dry, its character has drowned in corporate labels, but during that time the culture has been flourishing back East. Shoreditch is chic, with its little artisan pop-up shops and the most gorgeous graffiti. These characteristics keep flowing along the canal, up to Hackney Wick and into The Olympic Park and the East Bank. 

I’m so excited about the fact we’re opening a Hip Hop Theatre Academy in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Sadler’s Wells’ new space there – Sadler’s Wells East. I would’ve loved to have a space like this when I was a hungry 16-year-old. A space to devote all my time and energy on being the best dancer, emcee, actor, theatre-maker I could be. East London has always been a hotbed of talent, from TORSO to Boy Blue Entertainment, and now here’s a building and a program designed to nurture and develop creative hip hop skills, right on our doorstep. A space that’s open, transparent and inviting, where dance can live as a pastime, a passion and a profession. Where community and excellence are exactly the same thing. Breaking is now an Olympic sport. The HHTA will collaborate with Breaking GB to deliver Olympiad training sessions, program battle events in Sadlers Wells East, and for our students to have access to world class dance athletes. 

I often worry about why a culture that developed outside institution needs an institution? How will we hold onto what’s important about hip hop, while discovering new ideas? In our increasingly polarised world, where concepts like social distance have become normalised, we crucially need the arts. Hip hop was born out of the spirit of conflict resolution, to find a peaceful answer to gang warfare in the Bronx. We need hip hop dance now more than ever, especially in East. 

GUEST EDITOR, Jonzi D

Jonzi D has been the UK’s leading advocate for hip hop dance and theatre for more than two decades. He founded Breakin’ Convention in 2004 as an annual event to celebrate the art form. It now supports the professional development of hundreds of hip hop dance and rap/poetry artists across the country. He is an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells, responsible for bringing a permanent home for hip hop training and performance to the Olympic Park.

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]]> A Model Gent https://thisisthewick.com/culture/a-model-gent/ Sun, 07 Aug 2022 18:43:22 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1374 What first possessed you to get into the laborious world of stop motion animation? Growing up in Derbyshire there wasn’t that much around, so you had to be very creative with what you could do. I learned loads about how to manufacture and put things together working with my dad for a few years, then […]

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A Model Gent

  • You’ll know Andy Gent’s famous creatures and set designs even if you don’t know the man himself. A local artist with a global impact via Hollywood movies, ad campaigns and more, we caught up with the puppet master

What first possessed you to get into the laborious world of stop motion animation?

Growing up in Derbyshire there wasn’t that much around, so you had to be very creative with what you could do. I learned loads about how to manufacture and put things together working with my dad for a few years, then decided to do illustration in London, but I was always making sculptural things and automated toys. There was a TV programme called Formations, which I caught one night interviewing people that were making little stop motion short films. It was this eureka moment, watching it and thinking, ‘oh wow, these guys build everything, they animate it and it comes alive,’ and I thought: this is it. This is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been doing all these years. I’m perfectly suited for this.

There was no plan though, I found out what I liked, went for it and made a couple of short films. One was about a troll that lived on the moon, and the other was a music video for the famous song Stand By Me, made using plasticine. I got work with that pretty much straight away – making the tea on acommercial for Golden Wonder crisps. That was a classic apprenticeship path back then.

Was there any particular person or company that you picked up some great advice from along the way?

I’ve been really lucky and met some amazing people and worked with some of the best on this journey. Early on I worked with a fantastic director called Will Biles who gave me a lot of encouragement. Mick Foley’s company called Puppetoon Productions in Soho I really have to credit for giving me that first break. Then there’s Simon Quinn from the Puppet Factory, Makinnon and Saunders in Manchester, Aardman Animations in Bristol, all of which are amazing places where I got to work alongside really talented people. The better the people you work with, the better you become, because you pick up such good experience, including tricks and skills from each of them. Dennis Russo over in Stockwell gave me an amazing break and got me into a new world again when I was working with him. And then there’s Ronnie McDonald, who is working for me now and originally I used to work for him!

How did you end up in Hackney Wick?

I’d lived in Portland in the US for a year working on the movie Coraline, then moved to Switzerland to make Max and Co. When I came back to work on Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was shooting at Three Mills Studios in Bromley-by-Bow, another really big film came in at the studios in 2003 called Corpse Bride. I just thought, I’ve done all this travelling working on different projects, it would be nice to stay in this neighbourhood.

Do you get inspired by this area and all its interesting characters?

What I do is observe people and things. One of the films we worked on was called Isle of Dogs and I had a chocolate Labrador at the time, so I knew a lot of people with dogs. A lot of the characters in that film have come from local residents’ pets. If you look hard enough, you’ll probably spot one that looks familiar. Sometimes, we might photograph someone and think that they are brilliant, and we’ll have them as a face in a film. It’s inevitable we’re always looking at people and how we might make them into characters.

You mentioned in a previous interview that Isle of Dogs includes a one-minute sushi-making scene that took seven months to make?

It was the best part of a year. To make things look realistic we filmed a very famous sushi chef in New York, because how he cooked and held things was beautiful. It was really informative to see how the knife cuts in a certain direction and how he holds it and moves.

It’s a good scene to look back on, and feels worth it all when you see it. It was one shot, so everything had to be worked out. There was a massive crew – I had 68 people working for me on Isle of Dogs.

The film was a three-year piece of work for me. So in the 25 years I’ve been making films, I’ve only produced about eight hours of footage. It is a commitment to a medium. I absolutely love it, there’s nothing like it where you have the ability to make anything – and it’s real, it’s in front of you.

Your film Save Ralph is really important as it deals with stopping animal testing. It feels particularly effective because of the expressions of the animals. How do you get that emotion across in your puppets?

 

What we are trying to do is trying to make something inanimate completely come to life. The original Greek meaning is to breathe life, which is what we’re trying to do. Ralph is a really good example, he’s got to be really emotive and connect with the person viewing it all, so how? Eyes are one of the amazing things. If you don’t move the rest of the puppet and just blink the eyes, that will keep them alive in the viewer’s mind, so if the puppets cry you can connect with them. If everything else is correct and nothing is going to break your suspension of belief, then you go on that emotional journey with the character. Of course, the script and storyline have to be good too, but if you don’t question anything in the world in that moment, you’re totally wrapped into it all. If that little rabbit can bunch his eyes together, or lower his ears in a soft way, you know what he’s experiencing even if he isn’t saying anything. When we’re making these things, we’re desperately trying to work out how we’re going to give it this impact, believability, charisma and empathy.

I think Save Ralph will be one of those projects that we’re proud about for a long time. We’re winning quite a lot of awards for it at the moment, as we’ve entered it into all the film festivals. And it’s funny, because you want it to be a really good, upbeat and lively experience for audiences, but then you know that a lot of people are going to cry when they watch it. It’s had around 13 million views online so far, and the impact has managed to change the law in three countries. Spencer Susser, the director, absolutely blew it out of the water, it was a great idea. But to think that little film that was shot in the room next door has actually gone on and changed the law…

That’s the power of art! But it’s also the fact that it felt so real. Do you think that if it were made using CGI and looked computerised, it could have had such a heartstring-pulling effect?

If you do stop motion, you know it’s real, it’s a very tactile thing, so using this technique was a very conscious decision. When Ralph is chewing and everything is coming out of his mouth, or when he’s moving away from a syringe, you know that’s a real thing, which connects you in a totally different way to if it was 2D, or CG. Both of those mediums can do amazing things, but it’s about picking the right medium for the job. Ralph in stop motion was the perfect thing, and everybody connected to that. I don’t think there’s anybody that couldn’t be brought to tears or at least sign the petition from watching it.

Do you have any time for passion projects?

Save Ralph was a bit of a passion project because they couldn’t really couldn’t afford to do it. I decided to turn a year of the company into helping getting that one done. It was a project I was quite passionate about anyway, as I thought it was a good thing to do and I really wanted to help them. It became much bigger than even I’d anticipated, but once we’d started making Ralph and then the sets, we couldn’t really let it go, so I just kept investing my efforts into that as best as I could.

I’ve got a couple of little short film ideas I’m trying to do, and have been for the last 20 years. So that’ll keep going until I eventually get them done. There’s so many interesting things to make that your own stuff tends to get bumped to the back of the list. But it’s still alive, it’s still going on. Everybody that works here, I encourage everybody to come up with short ideas and make them. There’s not only the model and puppet making and the set building here, there’s also the film studio next door, and we’ve got all of our own equipment. So between the projects we do for the people, I would love the team who work here to then make their own short films.

It doesn’t look like there’s this busy hive of creative energy going on from the outside, but your Arch Model Studios is a busy place. Did you ever dream it would grow to be like this?

It’s a bit surreal when you come inside. When we were working on Corpse Bride, we were sitting in the canteen and we turned to each other and said how amazing it was to be working on the last ever stop motion film. Because at that time computer animation was really on the ascendency, and we all thought the technique will move that way. Then a couple of big champions like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson came in and made other films. I took six people from Hackney with me over to America to set up LAIKA in Oregon and we made Coraline, and then they all then went on to do other things. So it’s not only here, it’s like a circus in our world. We all work closely together. If I go to do a film elsewhere, I take crew, and we have our own collaborations, too. But we all come back to this area, this is the hub. Since I set up Arch Model Studios this is where we return and it’s become centred here in Hackney Wick.

The studios produce all kinds of different projects, so which current ones are you especially excited about?

I was working with an amazing puppeteer called Ollie Taylor over in Spain last year on Wes Anderson’s next film that was so much fun to do. We were lucky enough to make a very cool, funky puppet for that one, so I’m looking forward to seeing that on the big screen. We’ve done stuff for Hans Christian Anderson’s Museum, which they’re opening any day, which was great as they’re the stories I remember growing up with. Our ad for Oatly is just out and we’ve done one for Three Mobile which is a big dancing middle-aged three-man puppet that’s incredibly weird, but I’m really pleased we made it because weird is good. We keep getting weirder and weirder requests, so we try and answer all of them. That’s what I always wanted to do with this place, to be really diverse.

Find out more at: ams.london

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]]> Wicked One: Bonzo https://thisisthewick.com/culture/1345/ Tue, 02 Aug 2022 16:59:07 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1345 He's a familiar face producing his art

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Wicked One: Bonzo

  • He's a familiar face producing his art

What do you like about living and working in Hackney Wick?

It’s like a little village, and it’s arty here. I like it because it has changed, the world has come to my place, where once upon a time I had to go to the world. The people are nice, it’s a proper little community. I know a lot of people round here, because I sit on the wall outside and chat to them, especially during the lockdown. You see that guy, Gordon [from Trowbridge Senior Citizens Club] who you interviewed in the last paper? That’s my guy right there! We need to be looking after the people like him because they are the good people. I can’t go past him without stopping to say hello. But this is my community, I want everyone to feel safe here.

How did you start as an artist?

My journey of art was a great journey, from childhood. It got blighted as a teenager because I had to go to work. I’ve been doing art for about 16 years now. I see myself as a child in this, I haven’t hit the man stage yet, everything I create
is about my childhood. Sometimes I sit in the Pearl or the bike shop just doing my art, and people go past and just watch. I have so many pieces all around my house; pictures, mosaics, I don’t stop. 

What first made you get into it?

I loved metal work and woodwork at school. I am a hands-on person; I used to be a mechanic when I was 15, just keeping out of trouble. But I have always had a love for art. Two Jamaican ladies that I met in hospital a while back properly got me into art. One of them was a good impressionist and she came to stay with me for a while. I was inspired, so I’d go to my bedroom, draw something up to show her and she’d say ‘nah’ – she was so frank! One day I showed her a piece and she said it was nice, but I didn’t really know what medium I wanted. I tried pens, pastels, chalk, but I felt more could be done. One day somebody put acrylic paint in front of me, and I liked it. But it dried too fast. I went to paint with a homeless organisation in St. Johns Church for a while, and they had everything. I used their oils and I realised that was the one. The paintings I did before were nice, but I didn’t like the flatness, I wanted texture. Then one day I picked up a palette knife, and started layering the paint on the canvas, and I liked what I saw.

What do you want people to take away from your art?

I just love to inspire others. When my son was about 8, I used to have him here doing art just so that one day it can come out in him too. Everything I do is for my son and daughter, there’s so much stuff here that I collect for them. Because
one day you’ll need your bitcoin or assets and your money is suddenly not gonna work. I think that’s what it’s coming to.

So do you feel the world has got a little too crazy right now?

I never ever thought the world would be like this. War? It’s all mad. I don’t understand how human beings can kill other human beings. I can understand a small punch up, just not the killing concept. I remember I was living in Sweden when the Berlin Wall came down and I couldn’t believe it, but it had to happen. It was so sad what I saw in Germany, it was like a tale of two cities. I was there in 1987 and East Germany looked exactly like it did during WW2. I was so glad I didn’t live in a place like that. We don’t know war, I’ve seen it in other places, but I’ve never experienced it and I don’t want to. Life is meant for living, and the maker will take it if he wants to take it. We are all here for a reason and a purpose, it’s all entwined. I believe there is a higher power, whoever they are, they’re great. That’s what I believe. I’ve had certain experiences and I had an out of body experience once. I just remember looking at myself on the bed and a voice saying, I could either get up off the bed, or die. If I carried on down that path, I wouldn’t be here to tell the story today, and I’m glad that I can. That’s when I went to Narcotics Anonymous, and the people there couldn’t believe my attitude. I try to be positive in life. The people I connected with there were amazing, I still see some of them to this day.

What inspires you?

Van Gogh is my main inspiration, I want to see his works at the Courtauld Gallery. I love Van Gogh, some of my friends call me Van B. He was mad as a hatter, but his art and the colours he used, it’s just to die for. Cézanne and Monet too, their colours are awesome. I remember when I first saw Monet’s Waterlilies, and it blew my mind. I’ve been to so many exhibitions.

I remember seeing Ai Wei Wei’s sunflower seed exhibit at the Tate and that was awesome, I’ve never seen anything like that.

I get a lot of my ideas from my childhood. I like leaf prints – I used to do leaf rubbings and drain cover rubbings when I was a kid and so now I use leaf prints in my ceramic works. I like texture, I want people to touch my paintings. I’m not one of these moany people that won’t let you touch art. Obviously be careful because things can be fragile, but I want you to feel the works, and hold my ceramics. I had one lady cry when she picked up one of my works. And I felt sad in one breath, but also just shocked at what art can do to people. That’s the power of art. 

Over the past decade, The Yard Theatre has experienced a stratospheric rise, expanding to two more meanwhile use sites in Hackney Wick and East Village, and offering space for community events, programmes for children, young people, and residents, as well as a theatre, bar, kitchen, and night-time venue. After being granted three years funding by the Legacy List in 2012, the theatre shifted from a project with a temporary outlook to one seeking permanence. As Miller reflects: “An audience is a long term relationship that requires a bedrock of trust built over time. It felt irresponsible to start these relationships without thinking through permanence.”

What is one of your favourite local memories?

I took a girl out of Hackney, who had never left this area in her whole life. I took her to recite a poem in the Victoria and Albert Museum. That was probably one of the best days of my life. She must have passed away around six or seven years ago now, but she was in her 50s at the time. I’ll never forget her. But 50 years and she had never left Hackney. I can’t explain the words for how I felt that day.

What is the goal for your art?

I just want to be at the top. I tried to put my work in the Royal Academy once, but it didn’t work out. Only 25% of their Summer Exhibition is for local people, the rest is reserved for their alumni. Maybe it just wasn’t my day, I didn’t take any big things, I think it was just a mosaic. My last exhibition was at Tate Modern in 2009, that was part of a collaboration. It was there for a week and then it went to Tuscany for a few months. The people that run that show were called The Museum of Everything, and that’s where my artwork is now. There’s everything there it’s like a Tardis. But I’ll keep trying for the Royal Academy, I’m not going to stop. I wanted loads of money too, but I realised it’s not about the money, it’s about creating. Money will come and go. The real artists create.

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]]> A Moment in Time https://thisisthewick.com/culture/1321/ Thu, 14 Jul 2022 14:41:51 +0000 https://thisisthewick.com/?p=1321 In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, University of East London's Tracie Trimmer helped engage younger locals by asking their hopes for the future. Here she reconnects with them, a decade later, to see how they are getting on

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A Moment in Time

  • In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, University of East London's Tracie Trimmer helped engage younger locals by asking their hopes for the future. Here she reconnects with them, a decade later, to see how they are getting on

These images of young people in Hackney Wick from 2011 couldn’t fail to make me smile. See Studio, (now part of the Pearl) had arranged for them to visit an exhibition about the Olympics, grab some food, and meet the artists. At the time, we were desperate to engage young people in the discussions and opportunities that were emerging, but were aware of the isolation that they might have been feeling. There was certainly excitement that they had been included and welcomed into what was otherwise an ‘adult space’ and profoundly part of the developing trend of newness and regeneration that was growing every day. They were in awe of the arial photography of the growing Olympic Park on display and spent ages, while eating pizza, asking the artist questions, and studying the images. They bundled themselves into the designated dark space, posing as only young people could, when given the opportunity to have their own photographs taken. I recall their impatience at having to wait for them to be developed. There were other works on display which did not appeal to any of them particularly, but it got them talking and interacting with each other and the artist community. There was certainly a buzz in the area. 

I was interested to know what these young people are up to now, so I welcomed the opportunity to track them down. Some have moved away, found new interests, and forgotten Hackney Wick altogether. Some were not keen to be identified but happy to contribute when I asked them a few questions about how they felt at the time and now about the Olympics and the area.

I learned that Ryan, who was keen to ‘get people off the streets’ back in 2011 is now living in Manchester, having graduated with a Sports and Exercise Science Degree, and is about to embark on an MA in Biomechanics of Human Movement. He sent ‘big love’ to the Wick where his family still live and explains that he works ‘recycling memory chips for future reuse, saving tonnes of energy, material and harm being caused to the environment’. Paige, who wanted there to be ‘music activities for the community’ is no longer in the Wick but is still in Hackney and is nearly-qualified as a teacher in alternative provision. She recognises the enormous changes that she has seen in the area since she was a teenager. Zack, who wanted to ‘get rid of bad people’ also no longer lives in the Wick (although his family do), He works in cyber security and has just won the league with Cheshunt FC. Others are still living in the area, two as parents of toddlers and one ‘thinking about what to do next’. All of them trigger in me a sense of pride – they made it, and aren’t they doing well! 

All of them described a kind of ‘vibe’ about the Olympics; a buzz as Paige puts it that “seemed more exciting than it actually was.” Ryan, recalls the moment Usain Bolt broke the 4 x 100 metres, turning the volume down and hearing “everyone in my area going crazy
for Jamaica.” Everyone talked about the Olympics with a fondness but also with an element of resentment – they had been promised things that didn’t materialise such as training, employment, and ‘better opportunities’. Their nostalgia for the Wick was heightened when they talked about their life as teenagers and the friends they hung out with. They verbalised a lot of love for this neighbourhood and described themselves as the Original Wickers.

All of them said they sensed at the time that change was afoot for Hackney Wick, although it was notorious for not being very cool, trendy or even safe, even when the Olympics encouraged people to visit. As Ryan says this “saw the beginning of the Hackney Wick Renaissance,” moving away from the social and economic wasteland it once was. Those who still live here admitted that things are now expensive. Coffee, drinks, lunches – especially with children – were sometimes out of reach and there was little time for clubs or bars. They enjoy the reaction they get from people when they say where they live, but the reality is different; they can’t afford to take part in the classes and activities as much as people who live in the new houses. Spending four pounds on a loaf of bread, I am told, is ‘ridiculous’. For those who have become parents, the new and exciting venues and opportunities have become inaccessible. One of them said “we just keep ourselves to ourselves and get on with it. I don’t need frothy coffee and it don’t need me”. 

However, we view the changes, there was definitely a particular energy around when the original photos were taken, and it remains in the young people who were pictured to this day. Thanks to all of those who took part in this, and those who didn’t. Hackney Wick is proud of you. 

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The post A Moment in Time appeared first on The Wick.

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