Evidence of Us positions people as experts in their own heritage by giving a platform to local knowledge and otherwise under-explored histories, experiences and perspectives.
The programme takes place through long-term locally-embedded projects, working with communities typically excluded from heritage and archival practice. Working with children, women and non-binary people of colour, older people and people living with disabilities, Evidence of Us supports a wide range of creative and critical engagements with heritage.
Evidence of Us reconsiders who has access to heritage, and brings to the surface otherwise silenced personal and local histories. The programme takes shape through a range of inter-disciplinary collaborations with artists and communities, primarily the Big Family Press, a weekly community printing press supporting children to publish their experiences, and Narration Group, a collective of women and non-binary people of colour who meet fortnightly to discuss, dissect and reclaim their own narratives.
The programme also includes monthly open publishing sessions for children and their families, heritage tours delivered in conversation with local residents and organisations, and a series of oral histories centred on Peckham and Camberwell. Recent and ongoing collaborations have taken place with the Copleston Centre, Peckham; the Southwark Pensioners Centre, Camberwell; Harris Girl’s Academy, East Dulwich; UAL Camberwell College, and Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, Camberwell.
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund