Gasworks: Do you remember Olive Morris? 21st November 2009 - 24th January 2010

Do you remember Olive Morris?

21st November 2009 - 24th January 2010

Do you remember Olive Morris? uncovers the largely untold history of Brixton-based activist Olive Morris (1952-1979). Developed by London-based artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, this exhibition is the culmination of three years of artist and community-led research inspired by this remarkable figure in South London's recent history.

In her short life, Olive Morris co-founded the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD) and was part of the British Black Panther Movement. She campaigned for access to education, decent living conditions for Black communities and fought against state and police repression. Despite her young age, she empowered the people who lived and worked around her.

The exhibition at Gasworks traces the different phases and multiple collaborations within this long-term project, which was triggered by Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre's encounter with a photograph of Olive Morris taken by British Black Panthers' photographer Neil Kenlock. The photo shows Olive Morris standing at a Black Panther Movement demonstration in Coldharbour Lane in 1969, and holding a placard reading: “BLACK SUFFERER FIGHT PIG POLICE BRUTALITY”. Research into this particular moment in history led to a meeting with community activist Liz Obi, a friend and colleague of Olive Morris, who has since become a key collaborator in this project. More recently, the growing interest in Olive Morris led to the formation of the women's group Remembering Olive Collective which are working to restore the memory of Olive Morris and the issues she fought for.

Do you remember Olive Morris? brings together art works, films and historical photographs documenting the movements and campaign groups with which Olive Morris was associated. It also features archival material from the newly-created Olive Morris Collection, held at Lambeth Archives. The exhibition serves as a contextual backdrop for a weekly programme of events including walks, discussions, presentations, workshops and music evenings. These events have been devised by the Remembering Olive Collective around the issues she championed during the 1970s and remain significant today: from squatting and immigration, to self-education. A publication documenting the project as a whole will be launched in January 2010.

For more information about the project, please visit: rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com

CONTRIBUTORS' INFORMATION

Ana Laura López de la Torre (b. 1969, Uruguay) has lived and worked in Brixton since 1995. Using the overlooked and the underrated as a starting point, her work creates visible and unexpected connections between things, people and places. Her practice is collaborative, often acting as a catalyser and involving disparate constituencies with common interests but diverse agendas, Ana Laura's practice is rooted in an engagement with local context, particularly focusing on the life of South London inner city communities. Ana Laura's commissions record includes projects for the ICA, the Whitechapel Gallery, La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Tate Modern and South London Gallery. More recently she has completed the 2008-9 Southwark Studio Residency, with the launch of the artist book Night Time. She is currently undertaking a PhD at Chelsea College of Art and Design and is working on the inaugural commission for Peckham Space in 2010.

The Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) is a group of women composed of over thirty members including artists, activists, academics, archivists, curators, cultural theorists and community workers of varied generations and cultural backgrounds. ROC has undertaken an extensive oral history and cataloguing project leading to the creation of the Olive Morris Collection, which is available to the public from Thursday 22 October 2009 at Lambeth Archives, 52 Knatchbull Road, London SE5 9QY. ROC meets once a month in Brixton, organises regular presentations and runs fundraising activities at cultural and political events, festivals and fairs. For more information, visit: rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com

The exhibition is accompanied by a film programme and a series of events.
Click here to view the film programme or scroll down to see the events.

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER, 7-8.30PM
The Empty Gallery Interviews
A live conversation piece in which art writers Claire Nichols and Altair Roelants talk to artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre and other ROC members about the upcoming exhibition Do you remember Olive Morris?

SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER, 2-7PM
Opening of the exhibition Do you remember Olive Morris?
With a performance by Alexander D. Great, a contemporary troubadour renowned for his unique blend of Calypso and Soca Blues commenting on the social and political issues of our times.

THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER, 7-9PM
Artist Talk
Sonia Boyce talks about her project Devotional – a celebration of Black female singers in British entertainment – and her involvement in the Remembering Olive Collective.

SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER 2-5PM
Documenting Migration
An event looking at the ways in which records and documents of migration are kept and used by official bodies and by migrants themselves, and their importance in framing public opinion and policy.

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER
Remembering Olive Bicycle Tour, 12PM
Meeting at 11:45am in front of Olive Morris House, 18 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RL.
Visiting some of the places where Olive did things, and learning more about her, and Brixton's history. The bike tour will end at Gasworks in time for the 2pm event.

Housing Matters, 2-5PM
This event investigates how housing has changed since her times, and what forms of struggle have been adopted. We will hear from some of the people who have been involved in those struggles, with a Q&A session with groups who provide advice to tenants, squatters and the homeless, including the Latin American Housing Coop and the Squatters Advisory Service.

SATURDAY 9 JANUARY, 2-5PM
Self-Education: On Alternative Strategies of Education
In Olive Morris' Brixton, self-education initiatives challenged the failings of standard comprehensive education for Black children. Members of ROC will be joined by a diverse group of educators to explore and exchange different approaches towards learning, across sectors and communities. This open, round table discussion will be initiated by a film screening.

THURSDAY 14 JANUARY, 7-9PM
The Heart of the Race: Oral Histories of the Black Women's Movement
The Heart of the Race's author Stella Dadzie, Kelly Foster and Mia Morris from the Black Cultural Archives introduce this year-long oral history project documenting the activism of Black women in the UK.

SATURDAY 16 JANUARY, 2-5PM
Financing the Revolution
How does one fund work of a radical nature? What happens to community initiatives when public and charitable funding dries up, or imposes their own agenda? With Onyekachi Wambu (AFFORD) on fundraising to support indigenous economic development in Africa, Sandra Hurst on financial literacy for Black liberation, and Carolyn on low-budget/zero-budget organising.

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY, 2-5PM:
Closing event of the exhibition and launch of the publication Do you remember Olive Morris?

Funders, partners and acknowledgements

Gasworks and Lambeth Archives have been involved in supporting the Do you remember Olive Morris? project from its early stages. The partnership was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in Spring 2009. This has allowed the training of ROC volunteers in archiving, cataloguing and oral history, as well as the production of the publication. The project's advisers and partners also include Brixton Library, Lambeth Women’s Project and Black Cultural Archives.

Special thanks to Neil Kenlock and Liz Obi for permitting to show their photographs, and to Lambeth Archives for the loan of documents from the Olive Morris Collection. Many thanks to all ROC members for organising the events programme, to the Morris family and Mike McColgan for support and advice; Robbie Lockwood for sound editing training; Neil McIvor for graphic design; Marianna Liosi for researching and organising the film programme, and to all the people who have supported the project throughout the years it took to get here.

Thanks to those who have donated time and ideas to the film programme and/or exhibition: Celluloid Liberation Front, Cinenova, Colin Prescod (Institute of Race Relations), Concord Media, David Lawson (Smoking Dogs Films), Ethel Paris, Julia Morandeira, Menelik Shabazz, Mutiny Arts, Paul Okojie, and Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (Manchester), Natasha Cox, Sukant Chandan. Special thanks to Marianna Liosi who has researched and organised the film programme.

The following people have contributed their memories to the oral history project: Aneez Esmail, Amina Barnaby, Basil Morris, Clovis Reid, Danni DaCosta, Devon Thomas, Diane Watt, Elizabeth Anionwu, Elouise Edwards, Farrukh Dhondy, George Walters, Gerlin Bean, Hurley, Jennifer Lewis (Morris), Jocelyn Wolfe, Judith Lockhart, Linda Bellos, Lindiwe Tsele, Mala Sen, Maria Noble, Mavis Best, Melba Wilson, Mia Morris, Michael Cadette, Michael McColgan, Neil Kenlock, Oniel Williams, Paul Kelemen, Sandra Hurst, Sophia Kokkinos, Stella Dadzie, Suzy Mackie, Wilma Dean, Neil Kenlock, Devon Thomas.

ROC members who have conducted the interviews and catalogued the Collection: Alexandra Molano, Altair Roelants, Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, Anna Colin, Anne Ward, Ashley Whitfield, Carolyn, Claudia Wegener, Ego Ahaiwe, Ekow Richardson, Emma Abotsi, Emma Allotey, Julia Morandeira, Kimberly Springer, Nadja Middleton, Rakhee Kewada, Sheila Ruiz, Sonia Boyce.

Additional transcribers: Ella Gibbs, Jaqueline Hoang Nguyen, Jessica Mustachi, Julia Morandeira, Juliette Myers, Kate Duncan, Rashmi Munikempanna, Susannah Broughton, Tara Alturi.

Current Exhibition

Do You Remember
Olive Morris?
continues until
Sunday 24 January 2010.

Gasworks
155 Vauxhall Street
London SE11 5RH
UK

T:+44 (0)20 7587 5202
F:+44 (0)20 7582 0159
info@gasworks.org.uk
www.gasworks.org.uk

Tube: Vauxhall/Oval
Bus: 2, 36, 88, 133, 185, 436

Gasworks is open Wed-Sun, 12-6pm. Admission is free.

The gallery has full wheelchair access.