Living Together, The Becontree Collection Billboards

Installed in nine locations across Becontree Estate, Verity-Jane Keefe’s public realm exhibition during summer 2021 made visible some of the objects collected as part of her long-term project, Living Together. The work reflected the material of the place including building matter and archival political material.

Millions of bricks beneath every pebbledashed crazy paved or mock Tudor wall 9th August – 5th Sept, Becontree Station, Eastbound Platform

This archive – The Becontree Collection – brings together material from the last 100 years, collected from individuals, through a long period of public engagement and from Keefe’s long-term documentation of the estate. The billboard commission makes the collection visible across the estate in this its centenary year as a series of artworks with newly written poetic statements.

The Becontree Collection is about and for Becontree. Visually rich, the Collection intends to fill the gaps in formal historical archives, as trends in collecting and archiving have changed in this post municipal era; this project responds to shifts in social history, documentation and local trends from the 1970’s onwards. Its starting point was the archive of former Alderman Cllr Fred Jones, whose former home was the inaugural HQ for Living Together, the Councillor’s personal and political ephemera were saved and forms a key strand of the Becontree Collection.

Kept in pristine condition in a brown paper envelope alongside other achievements from past political times 9th Aug – 5th September

Clay, sand, lime & more, pushed into moulds then mortar on houses and broken across the same place they were made 9th August – 5th Sept

Pocket-sized instructions kept safe as a bookmark whilst politics and place shifted over time 9th August – 5th Sept

Historic heat & fuel for these houses, with crumbs of material still blown down the chimneys across the living room floor like ghosts….

Aggregate like a semi-precious sculptural object found separated from the road surface it was once part of August 23rd – 5th September

Guidance for pruning with rules to live by and handy hints, bound and distributed by past authorities 23rd August – 5th September

Crazy or patio, footpath or garden feature, standard red decorative issue smashed and scuffed 23rd August – 5th September

For more information on the series and images visit: www.livingtogether.org.uk/collection-billboards