Dear neighbour: My postcard of 2020

“Eye spy, with my little eye…”

This Autumn, Wandsworth Art Service are inviting children aged 5 – 11, and their families, to help us record memories of COVID-19.   There hasn’t been much chance to send postcards from any holidays this year.  So, we are inviting all children in Wandsworth to take a moment to make a postcard to collect together their memories of 2020.

In response to two of the five steps of wellbeing that have been researched and developed by the New Economics Foundation, this project aims to encourage children to Take Notice and Connect.  We are asking children draw a place, thing or person that has become important to them over COVID-19, and encouraging them to focus on the everyday and simple moments.  This could be a part of their area they have never seen before, a toy that makes them feel safe, a TV show that made them laugh or a neighbour who always smiles at them.  By focusing on the everyday moments, the project aims to encourage young people to take notice of the world around them and what they are feeling.

Wandsworth Art Service will be delivering 25,000 blank postcards to each school in the borough for children to do over the October half term.  We are asking children to deliver these back to their school, so that they can be collected up.  Their postcards will then be shared with other residents both digitally and in real life, potentially displayed in libraries, shop windows or posted to residents in the borough.  Encouraging the young people to think about who or what is important to us, the project aims to build a picture of the young people’s experiences and share their stories with their community and others.

This project is funded by Wandsworth Art Service and working with artist Orly Orbach.  Orly is interested in finding alternative means of assembling and disseminating stories, and explores interactive ways of making narratives come to life. Projects include permanent site-specific artworks, temporary interventions for public spaces, museums, galleries, libraries and schools, ephemeral and transient books, collaborations with theatre companies, community-based residencies, socially-engaged regeneration projects and consultations.

For more information about the project, please contact [email protected]