" Its a Nice Life Really ...."
Deptford, South London
October 2024
The 34Bus Collective for this project are Amy Dolan, Alistair Leys and Liv Wright
The final mural found a home on the side of the Albany Theatre. Due to the format of the space and the cinema’s presence throughout people’s memories, it celebrates and elevates these stories to quad film poster status. As with film posters, these murals aim to have a bold visual impact, dovetailing text and image, to create intrigue and evoke the epoch of the memories the team had the honor to hear.
34Bus have been working, together with New Cross Learning and Meet me at the Albany, to record stories from New Cross and Deptford’s elder generations.
This process was kick started, a couple of years ago, by an investigation into some curious concrete blocks on the New Cross Road. Consequent chats lead the team to discover that these blocks were the ruins of a legendary sign, that people had lived around for multiple decades.
The team began to prioritize the personal perspectives and narratives that this sign elicited, of the New Cross Road, Deptford and beyond, throughout the 50’s,60’s,70’s and 80’s. The team have been really inspired by these stories that bring themes of work, parties, local lore, finding your way, fashion, food, architecture, love, loss and resilience.
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