Down with the kids

The South London Gallery is unusual in being a contemporary art venue located next door to a housing estate. The gallery’s education team has made the most of this proximity, developing a series of artist residencies working with families and young people on Sceaux Gardens estate. The latest initiative began with artist Lottie Child. Lottie has been developing a practice called Street Training over the last ten years, working in collaboration with people all over the UK and abroad. She explores the relationship between creative and anti-social behaviour, especially in the urban environment. She notes that the behaviour that might win her an international art residency, might cause someone else to be awarded an ASBO. Her art practice highlights the ways we shape our environment with behaviour, and acknowledges that our environment has a profound effect on the way we think and behave and, ultimately, who we become. It’s an amalgamation of spontaneous urban interventions, martial arts, play and interaction with the built environment. When the opportunity arose to apply for funding from Southwark Council’s Joint Security Initiative, Lottie’s project seemed like a perfect fit: this community safety programme, funded by Southwark Council, was developed to address problems on housing estates in a holistic way, using a community approach to tackle crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.
 

The best teachers for playful interaction and intervention in the streets are children and young people, and Lottie apprenticed herself to the young people on Sceaux Gardens estate. Together they developed a street training circuit on the estate for professionals whose work affects young people’s lives. Street training techniques included exploring secret dens, climbing trees, jumping bollards and doing silly walks. One young person concluded the session saying “What I want the adults to take with them from today is confidence: have more confidence in yourself.” The project now enables Southwark Police to learn from young people about how to have more joyful experiences in the streets. This experience and resulting conversation allowed a rare opportunity for young people to talk to adults in positions of authority in an informal context. There has proved to be something unique about her playful, charismatic and deeply thoughtful approach that has allowed young people to grasp her ideas and run with them on their own terms. “I liked meeting new people and doing stuff you wouldn’t expect to do with them,” says Arbnor, aged 15. In March a conference that addresses urbanism, art, play and education, including a film made by young people, will take place at the gallery.