IMAGINED WORLDS

This banner was dreamt up, sewn, and stitched by a group of local young people and adults living in Lewisham. As a community, we brainstormed a future world through storytelling, drawing, and conversation at our sewing machines. We listened with curiosity to each other’s ideas about chickens, homes for all, fairness, and the importance of being yourself. Through compromise (and plenty of voting by raising hands), we decided that the words GIVE, LOVE, CARE, and SHARE captured our utopian world, where everyone had homes, clean air, candy floss, and absolutely no war.

We discussed people giving food to one another, loving everyone for exactly who they are, caring for people, trees, bees, and other creatures, as well as sharing resources, joy, and safe places to call home.

Once we had our Imagined World, we got to work with our fabrics, paints and needles and threads to carefully stitch our vision into a banner. We chose a large, multi-colored banner with words at the center because of the rich history of textiles in protest and activism. Banners have been used for hundreds of years to express the desire for workers’ rights, the end of war, and the fight for women’s equality. What better way to show off our world than through a rainbow of fabrics?

As you look at our banner, we hope you’ll feel part of our Imagined World, created by the Lewisham community—a place where we give, love, care, and share every day!

All made possible thanks to Nikki Wheeler and Crofton Park Community Library, Anna Dempsey, Jo Clemens, Lewisham Libraries, The Arts Council, Jaime Greenly and the Make Mee Studio team and of course all of our amazing world builders and makers!