project archive: PEG119

Peg119.

A Photography and Sound Project, conceived and coordinated in collaboration with Lisa Mead. The project was facilitated through the Croydon Clocktower who financially supported the project along with lottery funding. The project explored the theme of school cloakrooms and the stories and nature of such spaces. 
Project duration: 6 Weeks, contact Time: with each School - 1day per week.

where&when: Croydon, London. 2003

medium: Analog Photography / Recorded Sound

When I think back to my own childhood and times at school, the cloakroom was a special place reserved for moments to treasure and also dread. This place allocated the simple function of storing ones coat and gym kit was the stage for many a confrontation, friendship agreement, insiders joke and the lonesome realisation of the homework not completed. Away from my personal perspective it is the crossing point for children who must wear a uniform between their stated individuality and the act of conforming to an institutional regime. It's the border point between their private and family lives and their understood public persona.



The pupils considered not only what was known to happen in such a space but also creatively invented what they imagined could happen in a place which at certain times of the day would be a hive of activity and then stand totally still and silent.
Working with a sound artist, they recorded and built sound-scapes, on the photography side they worked with compact cameras, self built pinhole cameras and a vintage 'half plate' land camera. They learnt first hand how to simply print a black&white picture in a chemical darkroom and how to put recorded sound together.








The final installation was site specific and installed within a small hall within the Clocktower building, resembling a school cloakroom with photographic prints, projected images and sound as sculptural elements.

For most of the participants it was the first time they experienced 'art' outside of a frame mounted on a white wall. Not only was the experience truly exciting and sensual in many ways beyond what they had expected but more importantly it was their work.