Our History In Our Hands

Museum of London Docklands, No. 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, London, E14 4AL



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Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings

Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK. 19 March-2 August 2009


"Bobby Baker is one of the most widely acclaimed and popular performance artists working today. She began her diary drawings in 1997 when she became a patient at a day centre. Originally private, they gradually became a way for her to communicate complex thoughts and emotions that are difficult to articulate to her family, friends and professionals."» http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/Bobby-Bakers-Diary-Drawings/index.htm

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Living Ancestors

The artist may be contacted by email at: livingancestors@gmail.com

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Mick Jones: The Rock & Roll Public Library

Chelsea College of Art and Design, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU. 18th March-18th April 2009.
"Mick Jones, iconic guitarist and songwriter with The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite, and Carbon Silicon, has amassed an impressive collection of the paraphernalia of performance and marketing materials of the bands he has worked with. This archive sits alongside a parallel general collection of books, magazines, videos, ephemera, toys and games which mark out his life, times, and influences. In his west London recording studio and adjoining store, customised stage clothes, instruments, flight cases, records, amplifiers and recording gear, posters, books, boxes of correspondence, photographs and song lyrics, etc all vie for attention in a kind of Aladdin’s cave of popular culture.
In this exhibition, as much of the contents of his west London archive as possible will be transported lock, stock, and barrel to CHELSEA space. The installation of this material will create a remarkable visual spectacle that raises questions about the act of collecting and offers some small insight into the influences and interests of a musician and cultural icon.
For Mick Jones, this will represent a first attempt to unpack, look at, and think about a small proportion of the mass of material he has accumulated and decide what to do next. He envisages this collection one day becoming a freely available resource – a 'Rock & Roll Public Library'."
» http://chelseaspace.org/archive/jones-pr.html

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ASAUK and Museum of London: Workshop on African Images

Museum of London Docklands, Saturday 25 April 2009.
"The African Studies Association of the United Kingdom is exploring a closer relationship with the Museum of London. The Museum is keen to reach new audiences and to reflect, in its programme and displays, London’s cultural diversity. One example is the new gallery at the Museum of London Docklands on London, Sugar and Slavery.
We are planning a joint workshop that may contribute ideas, in the longer term, towards a museum programme and exhibition. The workshop is aimed at bringing together some of the academic work on the history of photography and image making in Africa and beyond. We are interested in discussion of photographs and images produced by and of African people and those of African heritage. We hope to attract papers and presentations that discuss the work of particular photographers, which analyse iconic images of African people, and which explore diverse elements of fame, dress, style and beauty.
We are particularly interested in the way that people present themselves to the camera: what they emphasise in different places and different eras. We are also interested in the way that contemporary popular media presents people of African heritage especially to young audiences and the Museum is keen to establish programmes that are relevant to and encourage participation from young people. There is a considerable body of work especially on the history of African portrait photography, as well as books on exhibitions, photographers and film-makers.
At this stage, the Museum would like to get a better grasp of the range of subjects being discussed and the key themes that are emerging. We are seeking short presentations that illustrate diverse themes. A few ideas have come up in preliminary discussion, but it is not our intention to restrict coverage to these: ethnographic images and their representations of dress and beauty; iconic images of political leaders – e.g. a history of images of Mandela; images of African sportsmen and women; work on specific photographers from the celebrated to those as yet undiscovered; discussion of exhibitions that have taken place; debates on black models and representations of them, for example the recent edition of Italian Vogue magazine that featured all black models; cross-cultural representations and understandings of beauty."

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Art of Intervention: Critical Perspectives on Private and Public Memory

International Colloquium, Kingston University-Kyoto Seika University
The Stanley Picker Gallery, Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, Knights Park Campus, Kingston University, London. Saturday 14 February 2009 12.30-5.30pm
"The Art of Intervention project brings together a critical mass of multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary researchers in the arts and humanities from the UK and Japan to explore the intersections of private and public memory in the articulation of shifting national and transnational identities through the study of contemporary performative art practices. These encompass two specific forms of interconnected interventionist projects:
(i) The performances and writings of the Kyoto-based collective Dumb Type S/N that explored the tensions between private and public memory through the body and sexuality;
(ii) The ongoing work of contemporary performance artists that focus on the questions of national and transnational identity, ethnicity and gender.
This is the 2nd International event building upon the Kyoto Symposium held in January 2009 which attracted over 350 participants: former S/N Dumb Type members including Bubu de la Madelaine, curators, artists, activists, and writers and thinkers from a variety of disciplines."

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Memory Factory 2009

Coleman Project Space, 94 Webster Road, SE16 4DF, 23rd January – 8th February 2009
"A free exhibition reflecting on life and work at the Peek Frean Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey on the twentieth anniversary of its closure.
Peek Frean biscuit factory returns to Bermondsey as Memory Factory 2009, with three weeks of free events, a new film and a free booklet to take away, featuring old photographs and the memories of former Peek Frean workers.
Memory Factory 2009 builds on previous projects relating to the Peek Frean biscuit factory situated in Bermondsey. In 2004, Coleman Project Space together with msdm (artist Paula Roush) held the first Memory Factory running a number of tea salons inviting former workers, their relatives and members of the public to meet in the gallery to reminiscence and share their stories about work and life at Peek Frean. Later in 2004, Paula Roush staged SOS: OK an emergency food relief operation, consisting of distributing emergency biscuits recreating memories around real life provision from Peek Frean the first ever food relief to the starving people of the siege of Paris 1874. In 2006, Coleman Project Space presented Memory Factory 2006, on the anniversary of the famous Cricks and Martin film of 1906 again inviting former employees to share memories and view the new digitally re-mastered films Biscuit Town & Old Ways New Ways by Sands Films.
Peek Frean operated in Bermondsey from 1867 to 1989, the factory played an important role in forming the economic and social climate: the factory was one of the largest employers in Southwark, at its peak 4000s people worked there. Families worked at Peek Frean for several generations, they met spouses and friends in the factory. The area surrounding the factory was fondly referred to as Biscuit Town, as mainly Peek Frean workers lived there. Biscuit Town is often remembered as a place with a unique social and communal atmosphere, where values of kindness, helpfulness and safety mattered.
Memory Factory 2009 captures memories associated with Peek Frean told by former workers at the tea salon events in 2004 and 2006. Memories connect the past to the present, the collection of memories and oral histories creates a platform for intergenerational communication, exchange and learning."
» http://colemanprojects.org.uk

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African Caribbean Treasures: Caring for our Heritage

Museum of London in Docklands, West India Quay, E14 4AL, Saturday 15th November, 1:30-5:30pm
"Do you have family objects - eg photographs, textiles - that tell the story of your family's cultural and historical background? Bring your family treasures into the Museum to find out how to care for them and discuss their importance with our panel of conservators and historians. ...
You are invited to attend this event and to pass on to friends, family and
colleagues, who may have African Caribbean - related historic photographs and
objects in their homes that they may want to bring along, talk about and
possibly find out more about."


» http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/events/eventDetails.htm?eventID=1828