A series of collaged text-based artworks, developed in response to the 25 year history and archive of south-east London arts festival Deptford X; taking the form of a print insert in the Deptford X 25th anniversary publication, ‘Uncertain times’, and a series of billboard artworks around Deptford and New Cross.
On the verge of something very big
folded A3 poster risograph printed on archival kraft paper and pamphlet digitally printed on newsprint; edition of 500
Image © Isaac Ojo
‘On the verge of something very big’ is a collaged text collated from archived Deptford X pamphlets, press articles and visitor feedback. These compositions form a non-linear history of Deptford and lay bare aspirations and anxieties projected onto the future of the area. Heterogeneous voices are scrambled, regrouped and collaged together. The work considers the tendency of arts and culture to be co-opted and used to fuel gentrification, examining artists’ complicity in this process and touching on the broader implications of these uneasy dynamics.
The publication insert is accompanied by a series of billboards around Deptford and New Cross, displaying fragments of promotional language lifted from articles describing the changing locality.
Holly Graham, 'London's Montmartre', Deptford X 2023 Commission. Photo © Katarzyna Perlak
Holly Graham, 'London's Lower East Side', Deptford X 2023 Commission. Photo © Katarzyna Perlak
Holly Graham, 'The New Hoxton', Deptford X 2023 Commission. Photo © Katarzyna Perlak
On the verge of something very big
folded A3 poster risograph printed on archival kraft paper and pamphlet digitally printed on newsprint; edition of 500
Image © Isaac Ojo
Holly Graham, 'On the verge of something very big', Deptford X Commission 2023. Photo © Isaac Ojo
