SAVE OUR SPACE
After the destruction of Tidemill community gardens in Deptford and evictions of Reginald house, we saw first hand the effects gentrification can have on a community. The residence had been through peaceful [and not so peaceful] protests, evictions and legal battles in attempts to save their space. As this battle was already being fought with little hope left, we investigated a similar site under attack by the same construction company, Achilles Street, still in the planning stages of development. Our project aimed to bring these two communities together to fight a similar battle, sharing knowledge and experience to empower each other. The Bureaucracy of construction companies in London make it very hard for people to access information around future plans and fight back before it's too late. We created a handbook as an act of resilience, to empower the population against big companies. The book contained information on how to protest, contact people, appeal and hopefully save your own space. We hosted an event to act as an intervention, to inform the residence of Achilles Street who where unaware of the future displacement further down the line, and bring these two communities together. We presented a photo series of local people and shop owners, displaying the community that will be lost when the space is taken over and collecting signatures to help fight the battle throughout.
