Curated by UP Projects and commissioned by Crossrail, Newham Trackside Wall by Sonia Boyce OBE RA runs through Custom House, Silvertown and North Woolwich in the East London Borough of Newham. The 1.9km long artwork is one of the longest ever commissioned in the UK and features over 170 stories contributed by local people of all ages and backgrounds.
From summer 2016 to summer 2021, UP Projects worked with Crossrail, Atkins engineers, and a steering panel of community representatives and experts in contemporary public art on commissioning this major artwork by Sonia Boyce, one of the leading figures in the contemporary British Art Scene.
Local residents contributed to the artist selection process and, through a series of workshops and events led by Boyce in late 2017/early 2018 also contributed personal testimonies and facts now woven into the final design. Their contributions draw out the rich and unique cultural history of the area, touching upon the many people, places, and events that have shaped the neighbourhood. Documentary photography mirrors the neighbourhood opposite the wall as it was in 2018 while a floral pattern running along the full length of the artwork features local plants and wildlife.
Newham Trackside Wall is a walking collection of short stories that are in turn personal, factual, entertaining and poignant. They reflect the importance of the area’s heritage and the diversity of the community and their views. An archive of the project is kept at the University of East London Docklands Campus and a schools pack for Key Stages 1 and 2 was produced by A New Direction and written by artist Maria Amidu, which you can access below.
Newham Trackside Wall is commissioned by Crossrail, curated by UP Projects and engineered by Atkins. The artwork installation was completed in Autumn 2021.
Newham Trackside Wall runs along Victoria Dock Road in Custom House, and Connaught Road and Albert Road in Silvertown and North Woolwich. We recommend starting at the North Woolwich section f you wish to visit the artwork which you can access from the nearest station, King George V DLR via the DLR from Stratford or via the Jubilee Line from Canning Town. Walking along the two sections of the artwork takes approximately 1h.
To read the stories and find out more about the community engagement that underpinned the creation of the artwork, please visit www.newhamtracksidewall.com
Resources
Newham Trackside Wall: Learning Guide
📝 PDF
👤 Ages: 5 - 7, 7 - 11
This learning guide written by artist and educator, Maria Amidu, supports primary schools to engage with the public art commission Newham Trackside Wall in the London Borough of Newham by artist Dame Sonia Boyce, OBE, RA exploring themes drawn from the artwork.
Newham Trackside Wall - Introduction to the project and Sonia Boyce
Newham Trackside Wall - Make a Blue plaque
Newham Trackside Wall - Repeating Patterns in Nature
About Sonia Boyce
Sonia Boyce OBE is a British Afro-Caribbean artist who lives and works in London. Over her 30-year career Boyce has emerged as one of the leading figures in the British art scene.
Boyce studied at Stourbridge College, West Midlands. Her early work addressed issues of race and gender in the media and in day-to-day life. She expressed these themes through large pastel drawings and photographic collages. After gaining recognition in the 1980s as part of the Black British Artists Movement, Boyce’s practice has evolved to become more collaborative and site specific, integrating mediums including film, performance, photography and installation.
Her recent work collaboratively brings the audience into sharper focus as an integral part of the artwork, between artist, vocalists and audience, demonstrating how cultural differences might be articulated, mediated and enjoyed. Boyce’s significant exhibitions include Five Black Women, African Centre, London (1983); Sonia Boyce: For you, only you, Magdalen College, Oxford and subsequent UK venues (2007 – 2008); and All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Arsenale and Giardini (2015). She is represented in the permanent collections of Arts Council England and Tate Modern, London.
In 2007, Boyce was awarded an OBE for services to art and she became a Royal Academician in 2016. She has exhibited at the ICA London, Eastside Projects in Birmingham and Venice Biennale. In 2016, Boyce was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.
This year she has been selected to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale, 2022.
She is currently Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London and a former Professor of Fine Arts at Middlesex University, London.
Artist Selection Process
Boyce’s proposal was selected from three exceptional proposals developed for this commission from a shortlist that also included Oscar Murillo and Amalia Pica. For more about the three artists’ proposals see below:
