In collaboration with Blackfriars Estate, which was established 150 years ago the group examined the changing use of and access to gardens and land. This project is based at The White House and is part of The New Town Culture programme.
Creative Resilience Pt 1 met regularly through a series of sessions at The White House’s Beacon Garden to explore cultural, ancestral and communal knowledge. Together, the group examined the changing use of and access to gardens and land through two historic London housing estates, Becontree in Dagenham and Peabody Blackfriars in Southwark.
Through growing, cooking, walks and mapping the group explored connections to and experiences of being outdoors, developing tools to decolonise knowledge, ancestry, plant history, nature and the built environment, and to celebrate being safely and proudly outside.
Blak Outside is a multidisciplinary creative collective providing culturally diverse and inclusive events. The collective host the Blak Outside Festival, an annual grass roots, intergenerational event supportive of working class social housing residents and the QTIBIPOC (queer, trans, intersex, Black, indigenous, people of colour) community.Founding member Carole Wright is a creative urban activist, community gardener and beekeeper. Wright currently works with Tate Modern, Landscape Institute, Urban Tree Festival (UK) and Peabody Trust. Wright has previously worked with Tate Britain, The Showroom, Whitechapel Art Gallery and St Mungo’s to develop creative community projects, lead workshops and walks. Wright regularly works with primary and secondary school students, housing estate residents and housing managers, church users groups and local councillors. Wright currently manages two community gardens in Southwark, South London.
Recent projects include Blak Outside 2020 Festival (The Garden Museum and Peabody Blackfriars, London, 2020); Walking my Manor (Cordwainers Grow, London, 2020); Walking whilst being Blak Outside (Industria Publication, 2020); IFLA World Congress (Oslo, Norway, 2019), The Big Lunch (Eden Project, 2019); Penfold Medicinal Garden (The Showroom, London, 2018).
Blak Outside: Creative Resilience Pt1 is commissioned by The White House as part of New Town Culture.