Focal Point Gallery
Tip of the Iceberg
12 September 2021 to 9 January 2022
For Tip of the Iceberg I have been working on PLOT: The Peoples’ Landscape which explores the social, cultural and historical connections between current day society run allotments in the Borough of Southend and historical alternative uses of land such as the Plotlanders (Plotlands refers to small pieces of land laid out in regular plots on which a number of self-built settlements were established in the south-east of England from the late 1800s and up to the Second World War). The Plotlanders could be described as both a community, a movement and a way of life which although no longer exists in the same way, could be seen to live on through today’s allotment societies; particularly through a DIY sensibility, growing your own and community care via working the land.
This new body of work includes a series of map drawings of five society run allotments developed through an ongoing collaborative process with the community who work the land. Through these conversations a series of oral histories will be captured and made available as a digital podcast, exploring the thematical links between the communities and time periods. Once complete each drawing will be re-printed and gifted back to the allotment societies as a record.
Reviews
‘The Tip of the Iceberg’ by Ellen Mara De Wachter for the Contemporary Art Society’s Friday Dispatch. Read it here
Photography Anna Lukala
