Why the world needs creativity: A case study of the Portraits of Peckham exhibition
- Written byStudent Communications
- Published date 28 November 2023
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How creativity addresses social and racial injustice, sustainability and wellbeing
The exhibition, Portraits of Peckham, ran throughout October 2023, as part of a Black History Month collaboration between UAL and Peckham Levels.
The concept of the exhibition, ‘to provide space for the often unseen stories, narratives and histories from the local community of Peckham’ was the brainchild of artist and UAL academic, Sharon Bertram. An extension of her practice which includes graphic design and ceramics, ‘Portraits of Peckham’ brings together projects she has worked on with local schools in Peckham where young people explore the notion of belonging and visibility and explore individual identities through portraiture.
As well as Sharon’s installation, the collaboration offered free workshops covering photography, beading (using old magazines and discarded cardboard) and a portrait drawing class - to UAL staff and students as well as to the local community.
The majority of these workshops were led by black women – fitting with the BHM 2023 theme of 'Celebrating our Sisters, Saluting our Sisters, Matriarchs of Movements #WeMatter', and their sessions centred on wellbeing, restorative rest, brining the community into arts spaces and working in a way that cares for the planet.
I caught up with Sharon Bertram, India Mae Alby (Photographer) and Catherine Li (Space Assistant for UAL at Peckham Levels), to find out more.
Can you tell me more about yourself?
Sharon - Hi! I’m a former Graphic Design lecturer at CCW. I now work as a College Admissions Tutor at CCW, working closely within BA Graphic Design and BA Illustration courses. I’m also involved with CCW Outreach programmes and The National Saturday club.
I studied Graphic Design at UAL but then I fell into ceramics due to my work as a teacher. I had decided to do a pottery project with a very challenging group of year 9 students as a way to engage them. They responded really well to it, and it inspired me to take my own learning further too.
India - I specialise in event photography. I also run my own personal photography projects on the black community and celebration.
I did my first degree in History, and then after living abroad for some time I decided I wanted to study photography. So I enrolled for the Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary photography at LCC.
Catherine – I'm a CSM graduate. I did a Masters in Curation, and I'm passionate about community engagement and participartory art projects which is why I love working in this space.
When did you start practising your artform?
Sharon - As a child, from the moment I realised I enjoyed putting pencil to paper. My sister inspired me to draw. I knew I wanted to do something in art and design, but I didn’t have the inspirational exposure to know that this was something that black people did in this country until I went to the an exhibition called ‘The Other Story’ at the Hayward gallery.
When I was about 16, my teacher sent me on a course at LCC for work experience. And that’s when I discovered graphic design and saw the potential to make a living from it.
India - My dad was a very talented amateur photographer and he gave me my first film camera when I was 12 years old. I started taking photos from then, shooting only film for years. While studying I became the go-to event photographer on campus and I also started shooting personal projects. My first project was called Black is Beautiful and I shot it all on black and white film. I haven’t stopped doing personal photography projects as well as work for other people since.
How did the idea for Portraits of Peckham come about?
Sharon - The idea was born from ongoing work and intervention projects I have been doing with young people to address areas of race and representation alongside equality, diversity and Inclusion. There has been the discussion of Camberwell College of Arts of having a lack of representation since my time as a student. The College sits on Peckham Road within a diverse multicultural community but I’ve always wondered whether young people in Peckham know about Camberwell College, young people who are interested in arts but don’t come from the typical art school background, I mean.
As Peckham Levels sits in the heart of the community that’s one reason why I wanted to call this exhibition Portraits of Peckham, because I wanted the faces of this community to be visible.
What are the benefits of practising something like photography, drawing or beading?
India - The biggest benefit is for your mental health which comes from enjoying the slow process of it. When you take part in these kind of activities, you enter an almost meditative state where you become consumed in the moment and what you are seeing, looking at or drawing. It's a real contrast to the way we live our lives most of the time; short attention spans and constant new distractions to respond to.
Sharon - So much to say on this one! Firstly, the fact that local people see that these spaces are for them as well, and that they can contribute and create. The portraits on the wall are from a high school and the National Saturday club. Most of them were done by girls, so i'd say the project helps young women with their confidence to try new things. There's a lot of fear among young people about being the odd one out, about being 'wrong'. We made these portraits with clay, which is a very therapeutic and confidence boosting medium. The fact that it’s malleable really means there’s nothing you make that’s ‘wrong’. It will be what it will. This is a great lesson for life too.
While i'm immensely proud of the portraits, I believe that the process of making is hugely important too. It’s not just the outcome that’s important, but also the delivery because it's when the students go through the process of making that all the talking happens, all the memories and questions they have about family, life in London and growing up.
Just looking at the end product you can see the work they’ve put in. I mean just look at the detail they’ve put into the hair in some of their portraits. It’s really impressive work.
What’s happening next?
Sharon - Once the exhibition closes, we will evaluate it to see how it can be delivered again. I’d love to see the workshops continue elsewhere, but that’s dependent on funding.
Catherine - The space opened in February and this has generated the highest number of vistors, so far. This one has attracted the most people from the communiity.
We have seen many people with non-art background participants attend the workshop, and discover the pleasure of creating and making art together, The making process is quite accessible and uses ordinary, everyday material which makes people feel more at ease and makes the classes more accessible. When accepting proposals for events here, we favour environmentally sustainable workshops and those which push collaboration with students and local communities: It’s like a transition zone for artists, making them aware of how they can work with communities and apply their practice. Sharon's project was a perfect example of this.