Our Croydon: Exhibitions
Alongside offering a series of free and accessible public events dedicated to the community archiving and storymaking, the Our Croydon project features four curated exhibitions at Croydon Clocktower, Talawa Studio, Stanley Arts and Turf Projects in November and December 2023.
Central to Our Croydon was a collaboration with a Caribbean elders group who participated in creative archiving workshops over a three-month period. Guided by themes of well-known and lesser-known people and places local to Croydon, community participants identified personal stories they wanted to share. The stories that emerged from these community workshops have been creatively archived and documented in a new film work by Nina Mdwaba showing at Talawa Studio. These community stories have also provided inspiration for new works by local artists - a photography and text installation by Jeremiah Brown showing at Stanley Arts, and an audio installation by felix taylor showing at Turf Projects.
11 - 24th November 2023, Introducing Our Croydon, Atrium Galleries, Croydon Clocktower, 9 Katharine St, Croydon CR0 1NX
Opening Hours: Mondays - Saturdays, 9.30am-5.30pm
Saturday 11 November, 3pm – Curator’s Introduction
This exhibition introduces the process of intergenerational passing of knowledge between elders from Croydon’s Caribbean community and the artists who have been commissioned for the Our Croydon project - Nina Mdwaba, Jeremiah Brown and felix taylor. In the first of four exhibitions in the Our Croydon project, the artists introduce their work and celebrate their experiences of Croydon in their own words. In addition, the exhibition includes a new artwork featuring photographs by the Our Croydon elders, and an illustrated walking map of Our Croydon’s host venues: Croydon Clocktower, Talawa Studio, Stanley Arts and Turf Projects.
16, 17, 23, 24 November and 1 December 2023, Legacy, a new commission by Nina Mdwaba and elders from Croydon’s Caribbean community, Talawa Studio, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon CR0 1JD
Opening hours:
Thursday 16, Thursday 23, Friday 24 November and Friday 1 December 2023, 12pm-6pm
17 November, 12-4pm
“What is my Legacy?” has been a through line since the formation of the group project. This question and provocation evolved into the creation of this short documentary film which includes stories told and untold, drawing upon archival mediums including music, image making and poetry, all explored over the course of the 10 week project. Legacy captures the essence of the community we created together - including the laughter, wisdom and vulnerability we shared around our imaginary fire. This 25 minute film provides a space for the participants' stories to become an archival piece of history by documenting their time on the project. It asks as many questions as it answers, and platforms the legacies of these wonderful Caribbean Elders living, working and inhabiting this remarkable place called Croydon.
About the filmmaker: Nina Mdwaba (She/They) is a South African-born Spoken-word artist, writer, performer and HCPC registered Dramatherapist /Creative Arts psychotherapist based in London, UK. They completed their Master's program in Drama and Movement Therapy at the Royal Central of Speech and Drama in 2021. They currently practice in London with a specialization in working with complex trauma and attachment. Their therapeutic practice currently consists of working therapeutically adopting an intersectional and trauma-informed lens with a variety of clients, including Gender-based violence survivors, refugees, and asylum seekers, looked-after children, children in SEMH settings, and artists, theatre-makers, and performers alike. In 2021 after graduating their founded and now co-direct Elenina, a culturally responsive trauma therapeutic and creative outreach company that prides itself on exploring mental health creatively with underrepresented communities. Nina explores identity through live performance, mixed media painting, and video installation using spoken word, verbatim and archival material. Follow Nina@boldiemakesart
18 November - 14 December 2023, I consent for you too,a new commission by Jeremiah Brown, Stanley Arts Gallery space, 12 South Norwood Hill, London, SE25 6AB
Opening hours:
Mondays - Fridays, 9am-3pm; Thursdays, 9am-8pm
Saturdays, 12pm-5pmSaturday 18 November, 2-5pm - exhibition launch
Taking the Our Croydon community workshops as his starting point, artist Jeremiah Brown presents a new photography and text installation at Stanley Arts. Through poetry, Brown fictionalises the stories of community elders - prefect ties, house parties, chest sets and red rover tickets - Brown elevating the everyday in a deeply personal attempt to capture a community, a home, before it is lost.
Hailing from Croydon, Brown questions how a community occupies a space. Drawing attention to issues of gentrification and redevelopments, I consent for you too, is the artist’s promise to his hometown - to never forget it. The exhibition speaks to the vital need for active archiving, of harnessing the spaces in between light and darkness, exploring how we are impacted by the constant changing of our surroundings.
I consent for you too is Jeremiah Brown’s first solo exhibition.
About theartist: Jeremiah Brown is a Black British-Jamaican writer and actor based in Croydon. He’s a Royal Court Writers Group, Soho Theatre’s Writers Lab, and Barbican Young Poet alum. His debut solo show Likkle Rum with Grandma had a sold out run at the Albany in 2019. Jeremiah’s commissions include Nationwide Building Society, St Paul’s Cathedral, UNESCO and The Poetry Society. His Sugar Shots newsletter comes out every Wednesday where he offers you a likkle suttin suttin every week to make you think and feel.
25 November - 14 December 2023, three + a silence for Croydon, a new commission by felix taylor, Turf Projects, Whitgift Centre, 46-47 Trinity Court, Croydon CR0 1UQ
Opening Hours: Wednesdays - Saturdays, 11am-5pm
Saturday 25 November, 2-5pm - exhibition launch
three + a silence for Croydon is a new installation by felix taylor, developed through collaborating with a community of Jamaican elders on different ways to explore, record and celebrate their legacies as Black Croydonians of a culturally unique generation. Based on these workshops and taking inspiration from the second movement of the Clarinet Quintet by Croydonian composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor, felix has composed a piece for clarinet, violin, cello and electronics which is a mix of written notation, graphic score created by the elders and improvisational instructions. The composition aims to create a space to reflect on the beauty of Croydon, its deep history and the people in it. The piece was performed and recorded by players from Chineke Orchestra and is presented as a 5 channel sound as sculpture installation at Turf Projects.
About theartist: felix taylor is an artist and composer from South London working with sound and image. His work uses field recording, musical composition, computer programming, radio broadcasts, collage and film making. Previous projects include performances, collaborations, workshops, exhibited works and soundtracks for The ICA, Chisenhale gallery, BBC Sounds, Somerset House, South London Gallery, FACT Liverpool, Reduced Listening, Audible, The Black Cultural Archive, GOMA, Thames Festival, Uber Boat, Musicity, NTS Radio, The Arnolfini, The Jewish Museum, 1020 Radio and We the Curious.