Date and time: 2 July 2026, 12.00–16.00
Location: UAL Doctoral School, Rooms HH202 and HH203, Floor 2, 272 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7EY
Over the summer, the cross-institutional Living Archive of London Encounters project brought together postgraduate researchers from Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), the University of the Arts London (UAL), and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Operating as an evolving, durational archive powered by expanded photography, oral history, and live mapping, the initiative convened participants from across UAL colleges, tertiary institutions, an urban research consultancy, cultural institutions, and the public sector to interrogate the metropolis's rich, layered geographies.
Co-developed through real-time visualisation, participatory visual research, counter-cartographic mapping, photo-walking, and embodied spatial practice, the project investigates how everyday spatial encounters, vernacular typography and informal street economies shape urban life and diasporic identities. Physical and textile materials are featured prominently across the archive's displays, including a Guipure lace textile pinned among the project's visual references.
In Yoruba culture, lace resonates with Aso-Ebi, the coordinated fabric or attire worn by family, friends, and guests to mark collective identity at weddings and other major celebrations. As Wole Soyinka observes, "At home a wedding without Aso-Ebi – the selective festive attire – is simply unthinkable" (Soyinka, 2019, p. 132). The project's inclusion of lace seeks to evoke this established association between textile choice and collective identity, offering a tangible counterpoint to its photographic and cartographic outputs.
Rather than deferring to rigid municipal metrics, the initiative constructs a dynamic visual repository that foregrounds human agency and lived experience across London's neighbourhoods. These fieldwork outputs – synthesising archival documentation, counter-cartographic mapping, and observational photography – catalyse critical dialogues on public space, visual representation, and community resilience. Selected highlights will be featured in upcoming Nodes sessions at UAL, Lab Night at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and specialised showcases within the Creative and Applied Participatory Research Group's ongoing symposia.
