Singing in his 1982 No1 hit, ‘Ullo John, got a new motor?’, Alexei Sayle famously asked 'Is there life on Mars? Is there life in Peckham?’
This project set out to find out.
Four groups of students from two of Peckham’s secondary schools looked at Peckham at four periods in its history – Peckham in the 18th Century, Peckham in the 19th Century, Peckham in the first half of the 20th Century and Modern Peckham since 1945.
Sheep on Peckham Rye
Each group of students started by researching their chosen period in Peckham’s history. With the help of the Peckham Society and a researcher / storyteller they used the Internet and Southwark Local History Library in Borough to explore the history of the area. They found clues to Peckham’s history in unlikely places and even uncovered information about its pre-industrial past in street names, the names of public houses and some buildings. For the 20th century and modern period they could turn to people who were alive during those periods and still remember them.
Peckham as they found out has been firmly on the map since the Domesday Book. Admittedly, it was pretty small back then – about 240 acres in all, land for one plough, one villager and three smallholders – part of Surrey, and valued at just 30 shillings. But it’s always been pretty big on innovation and fun in different ways, and it’s always had a bit of a wild side.
When they’d finished their research the four groups of students each worked with an artist to make a piece of work about their chosen period of history. The four artists chosen to work with the students were Ted Litchfield, Heather Martin, Vik and Amanda Egbe. The work you will see in the exhibition is a collaboration between the artist and the students they worked with and each installation references the period they focused on: a fairground installation inspired by the 18th century, zoetropes inspired by the 19th century, posters inspired by the first half of the 20th century, and a video installation inspired by the present.
The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Southwark Council and the Girdler’s Company and run by local arts charity Arts Express in collaboration with Peckham Society, the Harris Academy at Peckham, St Thomas the Apostle Secondary School, I LOVE PECKHAM Festival and Area 10 Project Space.
So is there life in Peckham? We think so, see for yourself!
