Monday, 25 July 2011
Sunday, 17 July 2011
A lovely day in the rain
Torrential down pour in Gravesend today for the start of the Big Seven festival at the Fort Garden's bandstand. The impressively stoic dance school pupils went through their routines in the lashing rain to celebrate the coronation of the Summer Queen, who braved the elements and still kept smiling.
I went to meet Keith Wyncoll who was incredibly helpful and positive. He has lots of experience in producing books that capture local history stories and I learnt about everything from balancing written content and imagery, to the best locations of daguerreotype collections, so that I can study the masters of the medium. He then whisked me up to the Gurdwara and introduced me to lots of friendly and welcoming people, including the new Mayor. We then popped round to meet Satinder Pujji, who is the son of the late Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji the renowned WW2 RAF fighter pilot and I am looking forward to reading the biography of his life.
Gravesend really is such an impressive place. Even in the pouring rain.
Lucy
Gravesend really is such an impressive place. Even in the pouring rain.
Lucy
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Gravesend celebration
I met up with Jay Edwins for a coffee in Gravesend this morning and straight off he told me a cool Town Hall fact that I didn’t know. One of the telephone boxes appeared on the album cover to The Jam’s 1980 LP ‘Sound Affects’.
Jay’s take on Gravesend is all round positive. He has lived here all his life and still goes to Sunday night pub quizzes with five mates he knew at primary school. “People stay here because they want to”, he says, “some people just don’t get it, but it’s a great place to be from.”
The town has Beacon Status for race relations, meaning that it is recognised nationally “as a safe place for new comers.” Jay explains, “it always has been, it must have originally been something to do with being on the river. It’s an accepting place to be.”
I asked him what he thought the theme of my project should be and without any hesitation he replied “celebration - it is what connects everyone together, the regattas, carnivals and parades.” Jay can even count a regatta champion among his ancestors, with a greasy-pole competition winning Great Grandfather.
Back in the 70’s the Sikh community joined in the Northfleet Parade with their own float and he remembers it as the start of something good. He has loaned me a video of the 2002 TV documentary ‘Sikh Street’, which features footage from the parade. Jay thinks it would be great if in the future the newer Polish, Slovak and Romanian communities could take leading roles in the town’s celebrations too.
The Big Seven Festival started today and Jay recommends the Big Day gig that happens on the promenade next Saturday. Our conversation reminds me of the enthusiastic gathering at St. Thomas’ Almshouses last weekend. Lots of laughter about dancing to the Gravesend Band playing on the Fort Gardens bandstand, hanging out along the prom, going to the Shrimper’s Regatta and playing as children down by the water’s edge, in some cases 80 or more years ago. I went down to the Library, trawled through the archives and found so many evocative images of Gravesend's vibrant culture of celebration along the river’s edge.
Lucy
Jay’s take on Gravesend is all round positive. He has lived here all his life and still goes to Sunday night pub quizzes with five mates he knew at primary school. “People stay here because they want to”, he says, “some people just don’t get it, but it’s a great place to be from.”
The town has Beacon Status for race relations, meaning that it is recognised nationally “as a safe place for new comers.” Jay explains, “it always has been, it must have originally been something to do with being on the river. It’s an accepting place to be.”
I asked him what he thought the theme of my project should be and without any hesitation he replied “celebration - it is what connects everyone together, the regattas, carnivals and parades.” Jay can even count a regatta champion among his ancestors, with a greasy-pole competition winning Great Grandfather.
Back in the 70’s the Sikh community joined in the Northfleet Parade with their own float and he remembers it as the start of something good. He has loaned me a video of the 2002 TV documentary ‘Sikh Street’, which features footage from the parade. Jay thinks it would be great if in the future the newer Polish, Slovak and Romanian communities could take leading roles in the town’s celebrations too.
The Big Seven Festival started today and Jay recommends the Big Day gig that happens on the promenade next Saturday. Our conversation reminds me of the enthusiastic gathering at St. Thomas’ Almshouses last weekend. Lots of laughter about dancing to the Gravesend Band playing on the Fort Gardens bandstand, hanging out along the prom, going to the Shrimper’s Regatta and playing as children down by the water’s edge, in some cases 80 or more years ago. I went down to the Library, trawled through the archives and found so many evocative images of Gravesend's vibrant culture of celebration along the river’s edge.
Lucy
Monday, 11 July 2011
It’s been a busy week for local schools working on the Old Town Hall Project
On Wednesday 6 July, a group of pupils from Riverview Junior School, met with the Heritage Interpretation Managers to start an independent research project about the Old Town Hall. They were introduced to the project with a PowerPoint presentation and given a booklet outlining how to approach research. The session started in the school and continued at Riverview Library. They were given help and support by the HIMs , their own Head Teacher, James Elford from the Gravesend Historical Society and Ann Thomas from the Kent Library Service.
They were very excited about becoming researchers for the project, and showed great enthusiasm both during the presentation at the school and when working in the library.
Painters Ash Primary School Art Project
On Thursday 7 July the pupils at Painters Ash School were delighted to welcome the Mayor of Gravesend to see the work that they had created using the Old Town Hall as a stimulus.
Their work included;-
A musical entertainment,recognising how the OTH had been a place for concerts and dances
A PowerPoint presentation about the building. One of several researched and designed by Year 5 pupils
Wire sculptures of statues made by Year 5 pupils that could replace the 'lost' statues from the buildings' pediment.
Shields designed by Year 4 pupils following a session finding out about the Gravesend Coat of Arms, which can be found in many parts of the Old Town Hall.
The Mayor was also asked a number of really quite searching questions prepared by the students. The event was attended by members of the steering group, John Bennett (chair) and Christoph Bull. And photographers from two local newspapers also attended.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Warm welcome at St Thomas's Almshouses
It was lovely to visit Joan Enfield and her friends at the Almhouses in Gravesend yesterday. Lots of stories and lots of laughter. They have generously offered to contribute to the project and have already given me lots of new leads and ideas. I am looking forward to seeing them again soon. Thank you Joan for arranging such a nice afternoon. Lucy
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Dennis Llewellyn's archive
It has been a great pleasure and privilege to meet Dennis. He started on the river as a boy before the war and across decades witnessed the huge changes that happen to life and industry on the Thames. A skillful storyteller, artist and photographer, he has captured this history in a unique archive, which he has very kindly allowed me to see. I will be including extracts in the artwork for the Old Town Hall. Thank you Dennis.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Mirrors with memory: The Gravesend Triptych
After much consideration and with the help and support of the Steering Group, I have decided what I would like to create as the outcome of my Artist's residency. Here is my proposal:
“Rebuilt in 1836” it says on the façade of the Old Town Hall, tying the place to a time of Victorian enterprise, when thronging visitors brought prosperity and civic pride to Gravesend. The ‘show-off’ portico’s Greek Revival style originated in the Grand Tour, a period of exploration, when cultural objects were collected in cabinets of curiosities, as memory tokens and souvenirs.
By 1849, with the opening of the railway, the tourist were abandoning Gravesend and seeking novelty at rival destinations, precipitating a slow decline in fortunes. Does this short, self-confident interlude in the 1830s and 40s, embodied in the fabric of the Old Town Hall, still represent Gravesend at it’s finest?
In 1837 Louis Daguerre created his first photograph, by fixing a transient moment of light and shadow on a polished silver surface. His daguerreotypes, always more beautiful than rival techniques, remain the most detailed, subtle and incorruptible of all photographic images and each one is unique. Described as 'mirrors with memory' they were created to be treasured keepsakes.
By 1850 the process had been superseded by glass plate negatives, which allowed multiple copies of the same moment to be made, resulting an abandonment of Daguerre’s method. Does this pioneering creative period in the 1830s and 40s, captured by these jewel like objects, still represent photography at it’s finest?
Gravesend and daguerreotypes, a place and a process, both the product of Victorian creativity and enterprise, both of which rose to prominence only to fade in influence, as technological advances bought irrevocable change.
The desire to hold onto the past and bear witness to the changes that have happened in Gravesend has inspired the heritage project ‘Talking Halls’. A process that will delve into the archives to uncover and interpret the ‘what’ and the ‘when’ of the Old Town Hall’s multiple stories. Heritage has become a form of tourist attraction, with the building now becoming the repository of selected selected.
The building already has two conspicuous commemorative symbols; the war memorials. Along with the portraits of the Mayors and the ceremonial chairs, they represent an official, communal form of remembering. But what about the ‘how’ of memory? What about the personal, everyday acts of remembrance? What about the unofficial voices of unrecorded Gravesend lives?
In the Town Hall's parlour, above the fireplace, there is mirror freckled with age. One of the few remnants of imperfection in an otherwise pristinely restored building. My proposal is to commission a triptych of beautifully framed daguerreotypes, to be installed in the parlour to complement this original mirror and echo its proportions and detail.
The subject of the images will be arrived at through conversations with three people from Gravesend, based around their personal everyday acts of remembrance. Not so much ‘what’ they remember, as ‘how’ they remember; tapping into our universal need to hold onto our own stories. Combining the latest digital photographic techniques with the historic daguerreotype process will produce objects that are precious, unique, incorruptible and celebrate these ‘unofficial’ stories within the reinterpretation of the Old Town Hall’s heritage.
It will make an important statement about the place of local people in the future of the Old Town Hall that these are valuable and fixed representations of their personal stories. These ‘mirrors with memory’, will reflect the viewer in the space, as they draw close to examine the intricate images that capture a contemporary moment in time.
Each of the objects will be the by-product of a collected story. In order to retain this link, in a way that parallels the research process of the ‘Talking Halls’ heritage interpretation project, I will produce a book containing fragments of the stories, for future visitors to discover.
The daguerreotypes will be manufactured by Christopher Brenton West, who is a leading expert in this intricate photographic process, which is rarely practiced today. Examples of his beautiful work can be seen on his website www.daguerreotypes.co.uk
Lucy
“Rebuilt in 1836” it says on the façade of the Old Town Hall, tying the place to a time of Victorian enterprise, when thronging visitors brought prosperity and civic pride to Gravesend. The ‘show-off’ portico’s Greek Revival style originated in the Grand Tour, a period of exploration, when cultural objects were collected in cabinets of curiosities, as memory tokens and souvenirs.
By 1849, with the opening of the railway, the tourist were abandoning Gravesend and seeking novelty at rival destinations, precipitating a slow decline in fortunes. Does this short, self-confident interlude in the 1830s and 40s, embodied in the fabric of the Old Town Hall, still represent Gravesend at it’s finest?
In 1837 Louis Daguerre created his first photograph, by fixing a transient moment of light and shadow on a polished silver surface. His daguerreotypes, always more beautiful than rival techniques, remain the most detailed, subtle and incorruptible of all photographic images and each one is unique. Described as 'mirrors with memory' they were created to be treasured keepsakes.
By 1850 the process had been superseded by glass plate negatives, which allowed multiple copies of the same moment to be made, resulting an abandonment of Daguerre’s method. Does this pioneering creative period in the 1830s and 40s, captured by these jewel like objects, still represent photography at it’s finest?
Gravesend and daguerreotypes, a place and a process, both the product of Victorian creativity and enterprise, both of which rose to prominence only to fade in influence, as technological advances bought irrevocable change.
Daguerrotype of Charles Dickens taken in London around1850
(From - http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/DickensCharlesPortraits.htm)
The desire to hold onto the past and bear witness to the changes that have happened in Gravesend has inspired the heritage project ‘Talking Halls’. A process that will delve into the archives to uncover and interpret the ‘what’ and the ‘when’ of the Old Town Hall’s multiple stories. Heritage has become a form of tourist attraction, with the building now becoming the repository of selected selected.
The building already has two conspicuous commemorative symbols; the war memorials. Along with the portraits of the Mayors and the ceremonial chairs, they represent an official, communal form of remembering. But what about the ‘how’ of memory? What about the personal, everyday acts of remembrance? What about the unofficial voices of unrecorded Gravesend lives?
In the Town Hall's parlour, above the fireplace, there is mirror freckled with age. One of the few remnants of imperfection in an otherwise pristinely restored building. My proposal is to commission a triptych of beautifully framed daguerreotypes, to be installed in the parlour to complement this original mirror and echo its proportions and detail.
The subject of the images will be arrived at through conversations with three people from Gravesend, based around their personal everyday acts of remembrance. Not so much ‘what’ they remember, as ‘how’ they remember; tapping into our universal need to hold onto our own stories. Combining the latest digital photographic techniques with the historic daguerreotype process will produce objects that are precious, unique, incorruptible and celebrate these ‘unofficial’ stories within the reinterpretation of the Old Town Hall’s heritage.
It will make an important statement about the place of local people in the future of the Old Town Hall that these are valuable and fixed representations of their personal stories. These ‘mirrors with memory’, will reflect the viewer in the space, as they draw close to examine the intricate images that capture a contemporary moment in time.
Each of the objects will be the by-product of a collected story. In order to retain this link, in a way that parallels the research process of the ‘Talking Halls’ heritage interpretation project, I will produce a book containing fragments of the stories, for future visitors to discover.
The daguerreotypes will be manufactured by Christopher Brenton West, who is a leading expert in this intricate photographic process, which is rarely practiced today. Examples of his beautiful work can be seen on his website www.daguerreotypes.co.uk
Lucy
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