UP Projects are working with artist, Aya Haidar to create a new light-focused artwork for Whitechapel in East London.
Commissioned by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the artwork will be developed through a process of community engagement working with Year 12 pupils from Swanlea School and 16 members of the Bow Geezers, a group of elders based in East London, to explore their collective memories and impressions of Whitechapel as a place and as a home.
Through a series of workshops led by artist Aya Haidar who will explore these two groups’ collective memories and impressions of Whitechapel as a place and as a home using song and lyric writing as a mechanism to unlock conversation.
One of the sessions will include an inter-generational workshop, where both groups will come together to experience a traditional Cockney Knees Up where the heritage of cockney song writing will be used to bring the group’s memories of Whitechapel to life through song, supported by Tom Carradine.
Following these workshops, Aya and Tom will compose a unique “Love Song for Whitechapel” inspired by the memories shared during this engagement process. The final artwork, to be launched later this year, will feature be a light-focused work featuring the chorus of this song.
The final artwork is anticipated to be installed in a prominent location along Whitechapel High Street in 2024.
