snowy_again
Slush
Yeah that was a post that needed some explanation! Haven’t got time today but will reply in more detail later...
New home for Black Cultural Archives - Raleigh Hall
- Thread starter Nickster
- Start date
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
This is a non-BCA post, but related to Black people's representation in pubic art
Deep in this council-funded Heritage report, relating to modernising the shopfronts under Brixton Rec, it turns out that three pieces of sculpture on the Brixton rail station have been "disappeared" for restoration.
Of course 99% of Brixton residents never use the train - but the report says: "
The bronze figures on the platforms (1985-6) by artist Kevin Atherton were listed
at Grade II in 2016. Historic England states that these were the first sculptural
representation of British black people in England in a public art context (which
must exclude allegorical or representative figures such as that on Nelson’s
Column. The heritage value includes their cultural importance as a “celebration of
the cultural identity of Brixton, home to a significant Afro-Caribbean community in
post-war Britain, and commissioned following a period of unrest”. (They are, in
fact, two black figures and one white figure). The trio of sculptures were
commissioned by British Rail and were part of the Brixton Station Improvement
Scheme. Atherton was interested in the fleeting interactions of urban life, and his
life-size figures, positioned in a straight line across three platforms, played with
the notion of fixed points in the fast-paced, transitory station environment. They
also play to the multi-level experience of Brixton and are visible from various
angles and places including Brixton Rec. The platform is the plinth and the pieces
are carefully placed in each other’s eyeline. Locals were used as models including
a worker at Brixton Rec called Peter Lloyd (platform one) and Joy Battick (platform
three). A former ticket office was used to make plaster moulds of these models
and an exhibition held at the Rec during the process. Atherton saw the bronze
finish of the figures as a racially unifying quality which may in fact have erased
diversity. They have been admired for their detailed life-like renderings of people
and the quality of the casting. The artworks are also recorded as having group
value with the Rec opposite which was listed at the same time – as was a bust of
Nelson Mandela at the Royal Festival Hall in an initiative to recognise sites of
BAME history. The fencing detracts from their setting, dividing the two female
figures from each other."
It's pretty bad that these figures should have been vandaised sight unseen - particulalry if they are indeed the first group of three Afro-Caribbean figures in bronze as public art in Britain. It's also bad that Network Rail was allowed to get away with screeening off one of the three figures - the lady facing the Rec - apparently with no consultation.
Full Heritage Statement is here: 21/03814/RG3 | Alterations to Brixton Recreation Centre and replacement of 13 shopfronts. The reinstatement of the original Brixton Rec signage on the Brixton Station Road and Beehive Place facades, including wayfinding, practical and creative interventions across the Rec's concourse, access ramp and steps, and replacement of the balustrade to the day nursery. (Planning permission and listed building consent ref : 21/03815/LB applications received). | Brixton Recreation Centre And Shops, 15 - 36 Brixton Station Road London SW9 8QQ
Deep in this council-funded Heritage report, relating to modernising the shopfronts under Brixton Rec, it turns out that three pieces of sculpture on the Brixton rail station have been "disappeared" for restoration.
Of course 99% of Brixton residents never use the train - but the report says: "
The bronze figures on the platforms (1985-6) by artist Kevin Atherton were listed
at Grade II in 2016. Historic England states that these were the first sculptural
representation of British black people in England in a public art context (which
must exclude allegorical or representative figures such as that on Nelson’s
Column. The heritage value includes their cultural importance as a “celebration of
the cultural identity of Brixton, home to a significant Afro-Caribbean community in
post-war Britain, and commissioned following a period of unrest”. (They are, in
fact, two black figures and one white figure). The trio of sculptures were
commissioned by British Rail and were part of the Brixton Station Improvement
Scheme. Atherton was interested in the fleeting interactions of urban life, and his
life-size figures, positioned in a straight line across three platforms, played with
the notion of fixed points in the fast-paced, transitory station environment. They
also play to the multi-level experience of Brixton and are visible from various
angles and places including Brixton Rec. The platform is the plinth and the pieces
are carefully placed in each other’s eyeline. Locals were used as models including
a worker at Brixton Rec called Peter Lloyd (platform one) and Joy Battick (platform
three). A former ticket office was used to make plaster moulds of these models
and an exhibition held at the Rec during the process. Atherton saw the bronze
finish of the figures as a racially unifying quality which may in fact have erased
diversity. They have been admired for their detailed life-like renderings of people
and the quality of the casting. The artworks are also recorded as having group
value with the Rec opposite which was listed at the same time – as was a bust of
Nelson Mandela at the Royal Festival Hall in an initiative to recognise sites of
BAME history. The fencing detracts from their setting, dividing the two female
figures from each other."
It's pretty bad that these figures should have been vandaised sight unseen - particulalry if they are indeed the first group of three Afro-Caribbean figures in bronze as public art in Britain. It's also bad that Network Rail was allowed to get away with screeening off one of the three figures - the lady facing the Rec - apparently with no consultation.
Full Heritage Statement is here: 21/03814/RG3 | Alterations to Brixton Recreation Centre and replacement of 13 shopfronts. The reinstatement of the original Brixton Rec signage on the Brixton Station Road and Beehive Place facades, including wayfinding, practical and creative interventions across the Rec's concourse, access ramp and steps, and replacement of the balustrade to the day nursery. (Planning permission and listed building consent ref : 21/03815/LB applications received). | Brixton Recreation Centre And Shops, 15 - 36 Brixton Station Road London SW9 8QQ
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
BCA x Market Row Rum — Black Cultural Archives
A new partnership with a local distillery to bring you rum! Market Row is a blend of premium Jamaican, Bajan and Dominican rums, infused with Kenyan black tea, Nigerian hibiscus and red rose from Pakistan, all sourced from around the corner in Brixton Market. It’s Caribbean soul with London spirit.
blackculturalarchives.org
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
It's sad to see the ever-increasing amount of tagging defacing the BCA building. Nobody cleans it off and this neglect attracts more taggers. It's as if BCA doesn't care.
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