Un-archiving the Museum for Lewisham

Working alongside the Museum for Lewisham archivists, I curated an exhibition at the local community library (New Cross Learning Centre). The Museum for Lewisham is a collection of different objects donated by the community of Lewisham, unfortunately, due to lack of funding by the council, the collection has been hidden in boxes in a basement for many years. The objects were carefully selected to highlight the people's history of New Cross - to highlight the struggle for the everyday working person, this consequently reflected upon institutions such as Goldsmiths whom I suggest have not been responsible enough in supporting a more diverse and integrated urban environment. After selecting items from the archive, I created plaques and situated them in their places of origin or use. Tied to the site, light passes through these plaques and is projected against the physical location. I then used the silhouettes of these objects to represent how this archive is hidden –– to literally and figuratively shed light on the archive –– and to inspire the community to activate this museum’s potential. The plaques reveal aspects of the local history. The objects from this archive were exhibited in the New Cross Learning center; alongside the maps that encourage members of the library and the wider community to explore the history of the area.