PEER is an small gallery halfway along Hoxton Street. Their current exhibiton “traces artistic, cultural and social collective work that took place in Hackney between 1971 and 1986.”:
“Bringing together new commissions, existing artwork, literature, film and archival material, the exhibition and accompanying events programme explores the radical, influential and often entwined histories of cooperative and collective work in the borough. Examining how social and political commitments were supported by an engagement with art, literature and culture, the exhibition focuses on the complexities of collective work, and questions how we might learn from the past in order to reimagine our futures.”
The title “we are a group of people…” originates in the founding document of communithy cafe, publisher and resource Centerprise from 1971. The endpoint of 1986 is when the Greater London Council closed.
It was exciting to see the two original murals by Jacob V Joyce that had been commissioned for the event, covering as they do a lot of the projects featured on this site over the years.
The bulk of the exhibtion is archival material under glass. It’s a bit of a hodge podge, which is a fair representation of the diversity of community projects and local politics in the time covered. I was glad to see a strong focus on feminist and childcare issues along with CND, anti-racism etc.
It’s always great to see this stuff out and about, but my usual criticism applies – if people are interested in the material being presented they might want to read it cover to cover. And they can, because I’ve whacked a load of it online. (See below for links).
The archival publications are supplemented by some excellent photographic artwork by people including Jo Spence (Hackney Flashers) and Neil Martinson (who I believe learned photography at a Centerprise youth workshop). Also a couple of paintings, but these seemed to relate to material slightly to the east of Hackney.
There are also two films playing on a loop – One Day (off) in Hackney (1980), which relates to the Rio Tape-Slide project, plus the umissable Somewhere in Hackney (1980), which is a longer film covering community groups active in Hackney including Centerprise, Lenthal Road Print Workshop and Caribbean House. My visit unfortunately was too late in the day to see “One Day (off)” so I will need to go back to check that out.
There are also a bunch of interesting events tied to the exhibition, and I was a bit irritated with myself for not finding out about it sooner as I’ve missed some that looked interesting. Anyway, stil to come is:
Thursday 3 August, 6.30pm Writer and academic, Adam Elliott-Cooper responds to the exhibition focusing on the history of Black resistance to state racism and racial violence in London. Adam’s first monograph, Black Resistance to British Policing, was published by Manchester University Press in May 2021 and he is co-author of Empire’s Endgame: Racism and the British State (Pluto Press, 2021).
Saturday 12 August, 1pm – 4pm As part of Hoxton Street Summer Fair join On the Record as part of the Grow Your Own oral history project for an interactive, zine making workshop exploring the history of community action for childcare in Hackney. In the 1970s campaigners demanded better childcare and created nurseries and children’s centres for everyone to use. Discover what we can learn from this history to help us tackle the childcare crisis we face today. The workshop is suitable for ages 6+ with drop-in sessions running between 1pm – 4pm.
Thursday 31 August, 10.30am – 12.30pm Hackney based artist Aya Haidar leads a workshop for Hackney Circle members that responds to Peer’s exhibition programme. Hackney Circle is a membership community for older residents of Hackney interested in creative and cultural events and activities. If you want to find out more please ask a member of staff for more information.
There is also a related showing of the film Breaking Ground (2013) about Stoke Newington Irish Womens Centre at the Rio Cinema on 6 September.
Which leads me to another mild criticism of the exhibition and its framing around GLC funding. There is no doubt that the GLC supported a lively culture of resistance in London and many groups struggled to survive after Thatcher abolished it. This is covered really well in the Breaking Ground film which shows how Stoke Newington Irish Women’s Centre had to allocate much of its time and resources to funding bids and the respectabilithy that entailed. But the Centre did manage to continue until 2012, some 26 years after the GLC was abolished. This is a testament to the immense work put in by the Irish women of the Centre and their tenacity. At the other end of the spectrum, I’d be very surprised if the radicals at Hackney Gutter Press were ever funded by the GLC.
Of course, there needs to be a cut-off point with any physical exhibition and the curators have done an excellent job. I’d strongly recommend a visit to PEER to see all this, but bear in mind that Hackney’s “artistic, cultural and social collective work” extends far beyond 1986 and has never been solely reliant on state funding.
“we are a group of people composed of who we are” runs until 9 September 2023.
Wednesday to Saturday, 12 – 6pm
Free Admission
PEER is at 97-99 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6QL.
https://www.peeruk.org/we-are-a-group-of-people
Some things in the exhibition you can read in full here:
And a wealth of other related Hackney radical publications on our archive.org site.
The Radical History of Hackney 