A Tale Of Two Peckhams

view from the library

Must I mention it? In this instance I think it's acceptable - 'New York, Paris, Peckham' said the side of Del Boy's van. Well, mock no more. Chanel has come to Peckham. Proper Chanel, with a major artist's installation.

Whatever they try to tell you there is, and hopefully always will be, a part of Peckham that is still Peckham. As we delight in the recent ruling won by the Aylesbury warriors, we can feel a little safer in honestly celebrating our bit of London.

PC Salon

So, firstly the not so good. It's not that it's particularly dangerous – probably no more than a lot of other places, and it's simply too familiar to most of us to seem so – but it's enough that you just have to always 'be aware'. If something does happen it may not be a surprise. Let's not forget that the car park CNN, no less, reported from during the riots five years ago was here. It is also, in places, in need of a lick of paint or two. It would be nice if these benefitted the people there rather than happening once they've been cleared out or, because it's been allowed to get so bad and councils apparently need an outside accountant, only if locals are almost bankrupted to pay for it.

beauty is our duty

However, thankfully Peckham is still an area belonging to the (mostly good and honest) people. It is also often these who have brought the area to where it is now, living alongside those now making it something else* too. It is worth noting then that changes can take place without destroying peoples' lives. I think this might be called 'character'.

*So, 'something else' I've had to describe it as. What else to say when visiting Es Devlin's exhibition, here in Peckham? Well, it is just completely unexpected, and kind of fantastic. Before even entering the gallery space it feels like entering another place altogether.

happening

into the mirror - later, but feels right even now

pet shop boys

Soon after the entrance passage and just before The Nines we pass Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, with us having to do the 'was that...?' thing because, well, surely not. I thought they looked like they wanted to avoid being mugged recognised or something and weren't looking up too much when I did a double-take, so I didn't run back and ask for a selfie or anything but just took a quick picture from behind them, but it was them. And how exciting all these people doing unusual things. Making the most of the setting sun in the last evening before official autumn starts there's talking, drinks and table-tennis (also popular at Livesey Exchange). It is worth noting it can take just a little thing to make a big difference. This too might be called character.

looking for...

There's filming taking place. People just wait and watch, duck and run past when they can. Then a black ramp leads to Copeland Park. Lots of black and white. Free Chanel bag and helpful, friendly staff pointing the way - and allowing photos! Where. Am. I? Still Peckham. The exhibition won't provide better answers - good.

It's described as disorientating and in the best way it is. The perfect start for especially my currently confused self is a short screening with wax lines precisely drawn on glass, expanding as a voice seems to describe the structured process of design. Mmm. Then into the mirrors which is one of those deceptively simple types of idea that obviously took a lot of planning, or maybe not but seem like they must have. This must have taken detailed planning. It's as advertised disorientating, but probably where you spend most time. There is nowhere we can escape ourselves. Not many people wanted to - lots of photos, the space kind of asking for them. The children probably have the best approach, treating it like a puzzle or maze. A crazy film is the red room one side, almost dizzying, but hypnotic.

perfume

The other side is another red portal, a curtain, behind which is the misty room filed with a temporary perfume left only in visitors' memories once the exhibition is over. It was I felt kind of like incense, but with flowers – lavender or rose? - behind to smooth it out. The white room, the first thing you see but the last to walk around, has plants and flower - lilies because Coco liked them - and is most like a kind of 'art-space' I think. 

We must visit the bar too, have a look at the Rooftop Film Club (no screening tonight). A guy grabs the lift we were to walk past. We ride up with him – lots of people don't notice it he says, he's friendly and helpful. And positive. Happy even. The views are of course fantastic.

Going down we catch a bit of the other Peckham. This building, the same building with so much going on inside – photography, yoga classes, fashion, art, just...lots of good stuff – still has graffiti, smashed windows, crumbling brickwork and a bad view of a railway track. It's not good - but the people make it better, and so it doesn't matter so much.

It's no excuse to let a place become run-down - in fact it's the opposite as it shows all areas are worth caring for - but when you hear that bad design is an excuse for crime, and an excuse for 'regeneration' and gentrification, it might be worth remembering that sometimes the people can make a so-called 'bad' area good. That we do not need local government to save us from ourselves. That all areas can become 'decent'. It just needs a bit of constant care (no need for massive bills, overhauls and, ahem, contracts), just a bit of effort and if need be – which is where we should have more authority but of course don't - an insistence that criminals will not be allowed to run and take over.

The local people, old and new, all those who care, should be supported. They've got something that makes something like this possible. It's something that is beyond just price. If it's good enough for Es Devlin and Chanel, it's something that shouldn't be thrown aside by those who see only price and no value. I think it's called character.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskJDVf8K