Fields of EveryWhen
Fields of EveryWhen
As winners of the Thamesmead Open International Art Competition, M+R created an 'abstract map of a social landscape' in collaboration with the Thamesmead community over a two year period. The work is a time capsule of cultural life in Thamesmead for future generations; The artwork consists of two parts, stories converted into embroidery and a sculptural hot air balloon displaying those responses. Embroideries were created by people who, in most cases, did not know the story giver - time spent carefully and lovingly reinterpreting a strangers story as an artwork became a beautiful act of care and generosity. The balloon is a celebration of social and cultural interaction; it floats above, and mirrors, the social landscape and acknowledges the global roots of the people of Thamesmead. 'Fields of EveryWhen' takes the historic form of a hot air balloon because this was the first method used to look back down at, and photograph, the Thamesmead landscape. The locality was also heavily protected by barrage balloons during the war due to its proximity to the Royal Arsenal.