The City of London is layered with a multitude of different stories and identities. Through architecture we are able to create spaces within the city that facilitate interaction, sharing and participation; providing the individual with the opportunity to belong to a collective whole.
On average, roughly 200,000 people migrate to London yearly. My interest has always been how people make a home for themselves in unfamiliar places. London is the city it is today because it is viewed through the eyes of the many people who interact with it, and change their surroundings based on their personal identities and the places they have moved from. People begin to feel like they belong to a place when they are allowed to interact and participate in something that contributes to or is part of the wider community.
Textiles and weaving have been tools used for centuries to tell stories and convey emotion. Weaving tapestry used for storytelling, historically, has been quite a laborious task and therefore a communal one, shared by those who lived through the stories being illustrated. Today, audio can be used to capture people stories and the emotional investment behind the events and places they are speaking about.
I propose an oral history archive that will continue to expand over time by using tools such as textiles and weaving to engage with real people within communities allowing them to share, participate and contribute to what could be a collective, London wide archive of stories illustrating the patch work that is London’s identity.