human rights jukebox

South Africa Crime & I Love Peckham – 2007

South Africa Crime & I Love Peckham: On Saturday 11 August 2007 I photographed a march against crime in South Africa and then went to Peckham for the third ‘I Love Peckham’ festival. I wrote at some length about both events on My London Diary and reproduce that text in full (capitalised and spelling corrected etc) below with links to more pictures on that site.

ACT4SA March Against Crime in South Africa

Westminster

South Africa Crime & I Love Peckham - 2007 — *The march paused in front of South Africa House*

On Sat 11th there was a march organised by ‘Against Crime Together for South Africa’ through London from Temple Gardens next to Temple Underground Station to Whitehall Place. Most of those taking part were young and white, but there were just a few darker and older faces.

ACT4SA is a ‘Facebook’ group of expatriate South Africans living in London, and their aim is to be a non-political group actively working for a safer South Africa. Their attempt, particularly this march, has attracted both praise and criticism from both other expats in Britain and people back home.

Some in South Africa have suggested they should either come back to the country to help in the fight against crime or keep a decent silence about it abroad. A stated aim of the march was to support the South African Police, but at least one police superintendent there has spoken out against it.

After Mark Joubert was murdered in a Durban restuarant in May this year, around 15 of his friends living in London decided they would get together and do something to oppose the violence in their home country. Shannon Joubert, Mark’s sister, addressed marchers briefly at the start of the march, and a minutes silence was observed by the over 600 marchers at the end of the route in Whitehall Place in honour of mark and the “the 50 other South Africans murdered on average every day” in the country.

More pictures

I Love Peckham

Peckham

‘I Love Peckham’ is a festival backed by Southwark Council and based around the centre of Peckham. Although Peckham has had a bad press – particularly over the murder of young Damilola Taylor in November 2000, and more recent violence on the streets, many parts of it are pleasant streets and vibrant shopping areas. Recent investment – particularly since that murder – has led to a number of improvements.

*Sitting on an already rather full sofa in front of the beach*

One of the more successful regeneration projects has been in the Bellenden Road area which is home to a number of artists including Tom Phillips and Antony Gormley, both of whom have been involved in brightening up the streets.

But there are still estates with corners that can hide dangers, and times when its wise to cross the road to avoid the dealers in their cars. It’s an area where it pays to be streetwise.

As well as the activities in the square by the Library and at the top of Rye Lane there were also other events, including a series of shop window displays.

Like the other folks carrying built-in cameras on their latest mobile phones I did photograph some of these, but often felt that some of the other windows which had their normal displays were more interesting. But then I’ve always had an interest in shop windows, which feature strongly in my projects such as ‘Café Ideal , Cool Blondes and Paradise‘.

On the main stage by Peckham Library were performances by Indian musicians, a samba group and some young dancers from Peckham. Around the square were a number of sofas specially decorated for the occasion, many of which were greatly appreciated.

This was the third annual I Love Peckham festival, but the previous ones had been blighted by British weather; today the sun shone on us at least most of the time, and the beach at times looked almost tropical.

I stopped off on the way home at the South London Gallery, where the installation of Isa Suarez’s Human Rights Jukebox was coming to an end with a party. I was pleased I’d stopped by to watch the video of the event and to have a beer and talk to a few of those involved with the project, including Isa herself. I still find it mildly amusing to see myself on film, and there were glimpses of me (mainly my back) taking pictures, walking in the march, generally scurrying around and rather too lengthy a shot as I munched on a wholemeal sandwich.

Despite these few moments, it was interesting to see the event again and from a different viewpoint. I was sorry I had to rush off to be home with friends.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at i love peckham.

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March of the Human Rights Jukebox – 2007

March of the Human Rights Jukebox: On Saturday 16th June I went to South London to photograph this event and put many pictures and a fairly long text on-line on My London Diary.

Here I’ll share the text (with some corrections and links added) and just a few of the pictures – you can see many more of these on My London Diary. You can read about the Human Rights Juke Box on the South London Gallery site, and on Isa Suarez’s web site.

So this is what I wrote in 2007:

I joined the ‘Human Rights Jukebox’ in its progress from the Camberwell Magistrates Court to Peckham on Saturday 16th June. An event in the Camberwell Arts Week, the ‘March Of The Human Rights Jukebox’ was organised by Isa Suarez, who had a one-year artists residency in Southwark in 2006.

The juke box included thoughts on people’s rights from many residents and diverse groups in Southwark, some of whom marched with banners along with it.

At the start of the event, the Dulwich Choral Society performed a specially composed piece by Suarez, using words from the ‘jukebox’. On Clerkenwell Green we stopped for a impassioned recital (in French) by a Black African poet, and in front of the old baths in Artichoke Place (now the Leisure Centre) there was a long performance by Deadbeat International as well as a short song by three musicians that left us wanting more.

Deadbeat International also performed at various other points on route, including another energetic set at Peckham Library. The march was led into Peckham by a rapper, with some forthright views on human rights.

Accompanying the jukebox were the live art group ‘mmmmm‘, Adrian Fisher & Luna Montengro, covered from head to foot in sheets of paper containing the complete text of the UN Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, in both English and Spanish as well as the pages of a world atlas.

In front of the library at Peckham, mmmmm completed the event by unpinning the sheets from each other one by one, reading the clauses and feeding the sheets into a shredder (and when this gave up, tearing them up.)

Each then poured cold water over the other and threw the shredded papers, so that they stuck to the wet clothes and skin. Finally we were all invited (in what we were informed was an Argentine custom) to jump once into the air for each of the 30 clauses of the declaration.

On the way to the event, I’d jumped off the bus at the Oval, where ‘Stop The War’ and other demonstrators were protesting. Gordon Brown was apparently expected to arrive at 12.00 to watch some kind of game there. It was a very different kind of action to the ‘jukebox’ though both were political and art in their different ways, although only one gets Arts Council funding.

Also dropping in at Peckham Library were a group of young cyclists from the go-kart track in nearby Burgess Park. They were a lively crew and everyone seemed to want to be photographed.

More pictures:
Stop The War Demo
March of the Human Rights Jukebox

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I Still Quite Like Peckham

I Still Quite Like Peckham. Every time I visit Peckham I’m impressed by the vibrancy of Rye Lane, though perhaps if I lived there I might sometimes want to get away from the music, both live and recorded that assailed me from almost every street corner and some places between when I walked down to the Peckham Rye Station a few Saturdays ago.

I didn’t take any photographs then – I was hurrying to catch a train, nor on my previous visit a few weeks earlier on my way to Nunhead Cemetery, but I have on some previous occasions, particularly on Saturday 11 Aug, 2007 when things were rather different and the ‘I love Peckham’ festival was in full swing. Here’s the piece I wrote about this on My London Diary and just a few of the pictures I also posted – you can see many more on the web site. The links I’ve left in the piece are all to other posts on that site, and I’ve kept the lower case only style I then used, but have corrected the odd typo.

I Love Peckham

Peckham, Saturday 11 Aug, 2007

‘i love peckham’ is a festival backed by southwark council and based around the centre of peckham. although peckham has had a bad press – particularly over the murder of young damilola taylor in november 2000, and more recent violence on the streets, many parts of it are pleasant streets and vibrant shopping areas. recent investment – particularly since the murder – has led to a number of improvements.

one of the more succesful regeneration projects has been in the bellenden road area which is home to a number of artists including tom phillips and antony gormley, both of whom have been involved in brightening up the streets.

but there are still estates with corners that can hide dangers, and times when its wise to cross the road to avoid the dealers in their cars. it’s an area where it pays to be streetwise.

as well as the activities in the square by the library and at the top of rye lane i photographed on saturday there were also other events, including a series of shop window displays.

Like the other folks carrying built-in cameras on their latest mobile phones i did photograph some of these, but often felt that some of the other windows which had their normal displays were more interesting. but then i’ve always had an interest in shop windows, which feature strongly in projects such as ‘ideal café, cool blondes and paradise.

*Kensal Green, 1988 from Ideal Café, Cool Blondes & Paradise*

ideal café, cool blondes and paradise

on the main stage by peckham library were performances by indian musicians, a samba group and some young dancers from peckham. around the square were a number of sofas specially decorated for the occasion, many of which were greatly appreciated.

this was the third annual i love peckham festival, but the previous ones had been blighted by british weather; today the sun shone on us at least most of the time, and the beach at times looked almost tropical.

*The Human Rights Jukebox at Camberwell Green, 16 June 2007*

i stopped off on the way home at the south london gallery, where the installation of isa suarez‘s human rights jukebox was coming to an end. i was pleased i’d stopped by to watch the video of the event and to have a beer and talk to a few of those involved with the project, including isa herself. i still find it mildly amusing to see myself on film, and there were glimpses of me (mainly my back) taking pictures, walking in the march, generally scurrying around and rather too lengthy a shot as i munched on a wholemeal sandwich.

despite these few moments, it was interesting to see the event again and from a different viewpoint. i was sorry i had to rush off to be home with friends.
more pictures