The Origin : stanley picker gallery
June Friday 11th 2021
3.30pm to 4pm : free to attend

Kingston University Nursery, 3 Portland Rd, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2SG https://www.stanleypickergallery.org/

Maria Celina Val, Simon Tyrrell, Julia Rose Lewis, Silje Ree and SJ Fowler

Continuing Writers’ Kingston’s involvement in Ben Judd’s remarkable project, this reading from a boat in the Thames to the banks of Kingston will see new poems and performances from five writers long familiar with the place and themes that drive this unique happening.

Ben Judd’s Stanley Picker Fellowship project The Origin reflects on Britain’s island status, both literal and metaphorical, and how islands shape the communities that live there. The Stanley Picker Gallery sits on an island in the Hogsmill River and Kingston Upon Thames historically existed as an island surrounded by marshland. The nearby River Thames is home to many islands and also boats – floating communities.

The Origin brings together the communities surrounding the Stanley Picker Gallery – from Kingston University students and academics to local networks, charities and residents – and asks them to imagine a classless, stateless, humane society based on common ownership. A temporary community, an experiment in living, a fictional island group. How would this community interact? What would they move, sound and dress like? How would they communicate with the outside world?