Year-Long Program Student Work, 2023-24

“1970s London, late one night at a block of flats… CAMDEN TOWN SQUAT by Ellen Beier / “‘We were called every name in the book, but it was that era.’* *Quotes from ‘My Life as a London Squatter and the Windsor Free Festival blog.” Three silhouettes stand outside of a house at night; someone stands in the window. “Squatting was a big issue in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Here, we weren’t peasants,…just artists, musicians, wanderers. Many London houses were empty and designated ‘condemned’ by the council. Common lore said that heat and light had to be available to an empty council house claimed as a squat.” A person scales the wall of a house at night; someone crawls through a window. A hand pulls the pull switch of a light bulb, turning it on. Three silhouettes walk through a doorway. “’Like most young people we were discovering by trial and error who we were.’” “Houses built in the 19th century were no longer up to code—there was inadequate plumbing and many lacked appliances such as refrigerators. We kept food cold on the windowsill.” “There was a heating unit we fed with 5-penny pieces over a sink in the kitchen, and a cold-water sink in the stairwell. Most fireplaces had a gas heater installed, also fed with coins.” A heating unit. A sink. A fireplace. “There was an outhouse out back—not awful—except in heavy rain.” A woman runs through a doorway headed for an outhouse in heavy rain. “‘If you were not establishment then you were trots or a marx or a man or something or other…labels!’” “‘On the news today was a report that working class kids are no better off than they were in the 50s, in terms of their prospects for social mobility.’” “Hendrix, Doors, Allman Bros…the music we listened to in the evenings. There was hashish, LSD.” Four young people sit playing music (a harmonica, two guitars, bongo drums) together. Stars and moon decorate the background. “By days we worked—me a part-time draftsperson and cook, one musician a welder, others in construction.” Three silhouettes wait at a bus stop next to a corrugated wall covered with graffiti that reads “Spread Anarchy” crossed out, followed by “Don’t tell me what to do!!” A window is covered with graffiti of a star and the text “Power to the people” “After a couple of years, we were told the block was coming down and we were evicted. Some band members joined the Hare Krishna temple; the rest of us moved to a regular townhouse.” “‘Most people come here because they’ve got nowhere else to go. They can’t fit into whatever society’s got to offer.’” “Fourteen years later I returned to the street—the remodel had just begun! Workers let me go inside and look around—flats were renovated from the inside, given kitchens and bathrooms and sunrooms. New windows, electricity, plumbing.” A townhome under construction. A singing bird next to a nest full of eggs. Birds in flight above the apartment/townhome building. Someone stands in a balcony, looking down. “A few years later the street was bustling with signs of life, families, children playing. Today Camden flats are prized real estate—sought after, posh even—you’d be lucky to get one even on a waiting list!” A bird stands on a for sale sign in front of the flats. A little girl rides a tricycle. “‘Is it a fundamental right that humans should have shelter?’”