Deptford X is 25 exhibition
AWN by Roman Aspeek Bloor
Roman Aspeek Bloor uses the method of paper folding with often complex calculations to create three dimensional works that respond to the geometric forms revealed in nature.
This intricate design sees the folded paper pyramids appear to gradually open, with the shadows created adding a new dimension to the work.
Instagram: @romanaspeekbloor
PSA by Saskia Takens-Milne
PSA, is a 1m x 1.37m rag rug with the words THERE’S NO SAFE WAY TO BE A WOMAN UNDER PATRIARCHY picked out in black on a white background.
Utilising a traditionally feminine medium it exposes the lie that performing femininity flawlessly will protect women from patriarchal violence. It is a call to women to embrace their full personhood instead of bending to societal expectations.
Dialogues: A Hybrid Art Project by Elisavet Kalpaxi
Dialogues is a rolling art project that promotes notions of connectivity between artists.
The first round of Dialogues in 2022 involved eight artist who exchanged artworks and installed them in their personal spaces for 10 days. During that period the artworks were publicly available on the project’s online platform through streaming events.
Following the exhibition, we decided to invite more artists to form their own dialogues. We created an instructional booklet, the ‘formula’, which describes all the processes involved. This resulted in four new rounds of Dialogues in 2023.
Holding On by Cash Aspeek
The image shows part of a wider study based around the intimate object of my parents 60 year old mattress. My mother is veiled within the tower of pocket springs, she is holding on to my fathers chair with a connection of care and support.
They were married in ‘Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church’ on Deptford High Street in 1955.
Currently my father is holding on to life at the age of 94.
Natures Turbine & Caroline at Peckham Rye by Brain Francis
A shoot grows on a branch, develops into a Natural Turbine and is powered by nature’s breath.
Using various mediums, the presentation will show the development of a shoot that will grow into a structure which is a Natural Turbine. From the portrait of Caroline at Peckham Rye, a shoot sprouting from a branch eventually grows into a Sequoia Turbine.
Urban Transitions by Nazia Parvez, Fion Gunn, Maureen Kendall | A-Maze Arts Collective
Re/Imagining Deptford. The London Borough of Lewisham has a population of 300,000+ residents [ONS]. It is a diverse borough, with more than 30% of residents born in countries other than the UK. In addition to English, a range of languages are spoken by its residents, including: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, French, Italian, Kurdish, Portuguese, Spanish, Somali, Turkish, Polish & Vietnamese [ONS, Advice Lewisham].
With a focus on migration, Urban Transitions explores imaginary spaces, which encompass the memories and connections to place and culture that people carry with them through their everyday experiences. The project is a collaboration between local residents and the A-Maze Arts Collective.
House of Standard Series by Usva Inei
Working from lived experiences as a queer Russian immigrant, Usva Inei explores the suppression of freedom of speech of LGBTQ+ individuals in Russia in midst of stringent anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
The installation makes use of drypoint prints, charcoal, acrylics and modelling paste to create a scene that combines imagery of mass-built social housing with police suppression of LGBTQ+ rights protests.
Serenade by Dawoon Kim
Serenade (2022) is an experimental animated film looking into loneliness, technology, and the meaning of love. The humorous, poetic lyrics of the soundtrack, sung by an opera singer, are based on text found in profile bios on dating sites and apps.
For this project, Kim created a computer-generated avatar of her future self, exaggeratedly aged to resist society’s obsession with youth and perfection. Inspired by bell hooks’ ‘All About Love’, this project prompts the viewer to interrogate individualism that is spreading in contemporary culture, reimagining the meaning of love as unity and community rather than romantic relations.
Sunvalley Drive by Shaloma Ellis
Jamaican-born George Ellis migrated to the UK as part of the Windrush generation, where he built his life, family and career. Later, George returned to his roots and culture, in Jamaica, for his retirement. Now his glaucoma is worsening, his family are visiting to observe his living conditions without full-time care and deliberate what’s best for him: to be in the care of his family in the UK or remain where he feels most at home?
Through encompassing that visit, this film invites you to reflect on the challenging decisions families have to make surrounding eldercare whilst highlighting the dualities of return migration.
Archipelago 2023 by Helen Smith
An Archipelago of salvaged materials in the windows of Deptford Lounge. Linoleum, packing-foam and fabrics‚ embellished with blanket stitches of twine and visible mending reveals flaws. Archipelago unveils layers of stratified cultural and natural debris, forming an archaeology of site. Viewers are invited to contemplate the past and other perspectives.
Instagram: @helen_smith_studio
Today’s Style: Hanging Choices 2022 Wood, paper, ink by Joanna Fraga Mamede
Joanna Mamede’s installation challenges conventional perceptions of artistic creation by delving into the choices artists face when navigating the realms of beauty and self-identity. The wooden hangers and post-its containing re-arranged words symbolize the choices artists make each day, that are not merely about aesthetics but about embracing the responsibility to address the world’s injustices. The wood and paper underscore the fragility of these choices, illustrating how the artist’s path is never rigid or fixed. Furthermore, the piece confronts a pivotal juncture, realising that the pursuit of art goes beyond seeking approval or comfort.
Joanna is interested in the use of text on different surfaces and researches the use of text on screen to deconstruct oppressive language systems. She is interested in how graphic and textual interferes with meaning. In this case, the act of selecting a hanger with a specific arrangement of words becomes a ritualistic declaration of artistic intention. Today’s Style: Hanging Choices shatters the notion of art as mere adornment and invites observers to transcend the surface of beauty and delve into the realm of contemplation and introspection.
Sounds of Deptford by Olivia and Raisa
Sounds of Deptford is a collaborative art project paying tribute to the area trough field recordings interactions and photographs taken at various points along the high street.
Through a series of a visual and sonic anthology, the participants will experience the orchestra of the everyday which is Deptford High Street.
Like Smell of Smoke on Your Clothes by Sohamcantdo
Opening night – conversation with collaborators: Fri 22 Sep, 6.30 PM
This project has two parts. The first involves collages created from archived family images before l left India in October 2020. It revolves around monologues with aphorisms from popular culture, delving into heritage and trauma with humour. They explore fears, tears, masculinity and my thoughts, often conveying them in dryly.
Looking at the images evoked a visceral sense of nostalgia and revealed how the memory of these images changed over time. Coming to the second part of it, a video installation ‘Home’ which is an experimental performance film exploring notions of ‘Home,’ ‘Identity,’ and ‘Nostalgia,’ through symbolic objects and imagery to convey human experience in foreign lands where ‘mobility becomes reality.
On Reading by Gill Houghton
A series of black and white photographs on reading seen through the lens of children.
Opening preview: Fri 22 Sep, 6-7pm
Instagram: @gill_houghton_photos
Last Picture of You by Arti
Last Picture of You (LPU) shares last wishes from the humble to the most colourful and encourages you to add yours. Opening up conversations about death and life.
The ‘send off’ communicates a lot about life; what life means to us, what we want, and how we might like to be remembered; our final impact, or what comforts us and those still on their journey without us.
The project came about over 10 years ago, late one night, as Arti’s mum was in Intensive Care and last wishes had come and gone. In talking about the last wishes, with close friend, Tina shared her wishes, which, like her, were powerful and colourful. These experiences combined influenced the creation of the first iteration of Last Picture of You and resulted in a collection of last wishes in a booklet, installation film, and a workshop at Static Gallery as Part of Writing on the Wall.
We have come back to this project, sparked by Liyanne Unasa who wanted to update her her last wishes and widen the conversation, within 24 hours, two other people talked about losses around them. And with some much collective concern on living and dying over the pandemic and beyond.
Part of Last Picture of You will be in a window of Deptford Lounge with full individual responses and resources growing on the website over the course of the festival.
The Pigeons of Deptford by Cal Byrne
Drawing of a pigeon, accompanied by a short fictional history titled: The Pigeons in Deptford.
Zine Making Workshop with Ross Fraser-Smith
Saturday 23 12pm-4pm
This workshop will explore different approaches to zine-making, and how various artistic practices, such as creative writing, photography, and drawing, can be incorporated into a printed publication. The workshop will also explore alternative methods of printing and distribution, giving guidance to people interested in self-publishing practices as a means to disseminate and circulate your work. It will be led by a publisher and two artist/publishers.
Matrimony Place by Abdillahi Haibe
Abdillahi’s work will be on display on Giffin Square throughout the festival.
Twist by Tao Chen, Hui Zhang, Yingying Gao
We collected discarded hair from different barbershops in Deptford to create a flag and a parade for this community. Our vision is to use discarded hair, representing a person’s history and story, as a medium to create new experiences and reflections where residents from different backgrounds in Deptford feel integrated with each other, a communal culture based on the recognition of different identities, belonging together.
There will be a parade on Saturday 23 September at 2pm along Deptford High Street , to arrive at Deptford Lounge approx. 3.30pm.