SQUATTING WATERCOLOURS

watercolour painting of the front of a terrace house with boarded up windows and door

watercolour painting of a shopfront with boarded up windows

watercolour painting of the front of a terrace house with boarded up windows and graffiti that says 'fight back'

watercolour painting of a corrugated iron fence with partly ripped down posters

watercolour painting of the front of a terrace house with boarded up windows

watercolour painting of a shopfront, sign says 'frontline off license'

watercolour painting of the front of a squatted shop

watercolour painting of a bricked up window with the words 'think of this as a window' spray painted on top

watercolour painting of the front of squatters handbook

watercolour painting of the front of a terrace house with boarded up windows and door, with the words 'this house is occupied' written in red paint

watercolour painting of the front of a terrace house with boarded up windows and door, with a fence in the front with the words 'we thought labours tory housing policy was smashing until we discovered villa rd'

watercolour painting of the front of shop with boarded up windows and door with the words 'gay centre' written on it

I made 20 of these watercolours (all between 21cm x 29.7cm and 14.8cm x 29.7cm) at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown as I didn’t have access to many materials which made it difficult to make 3D work.

watercolour painting of people outside a boarded up shop front

watercolour painting of the south london gay community centre

watercolour painting of people fixing a window in the south london gay community centre, with a police officer standing outside the front door

These three paintings directly reference how history is remembered and interpreted. In making these works, I posed the following questions:

How do we remember a place when only graining images are left?

How do we have any idea what colour a door was if the building was only photographed in black and white?

What influence does the format of a book have on the way history is remembered?

Is the Internet a reliable enough source for me to find the history of my community?

If you are interested in purchasing any of these watercolours, see my shop for more information

SOUTH LONDON GAY COMMUNITY CENTRE

BOARDED UP