Overlay features observations of life in Kings Cross, scenes of the present overlapping the area’s rich history.
During my time as the House of Illustration’s Illustrator in Residence I spent months mapping the area around Kings Cross, noting traces of its history in its memorials and industrial architecture while observing the fleeting moments of the ever-moving present – friends meeting in Coal Drops Yard, shopkeepers at work in Caledonian Road and the flow of commuters.
Alongside the drawings are comics that record encounters that the artist had with people that live, work and play here. A poignant chance conversation with a piano player at St Pancras Station and memories of a hot afternoon on Crofter’s Way. To me, these moments are the latest layer of Kings Cross history, one in which everyday experiences are a vital part.
Overlay features observations of life in Kings Cross, scenes of the present overlapping the area’s rich history.
An exhibition in St Pancras Square by Kings Cross Station, running from 1st September to 27th September 2021. Part of The Outside Art Project, and supported by the House of Illustration and the Barbara and Philip Denny Trust.
During my time as the House of Illustration’s Illustrator in Residence I spent months mapping the area around Kings Cross, noting traces of its history in its memorials and industrial architecture while observing the fleeting moments of the ever-moving present – friends meeting in Coal Drops Yard, shopkeepers at work in Caledonian Road and the flow of commuters.
Alongside the drawings are comics that record encounters that the artist had with people that live, work and play here. A poignant chance conversation with a piano player at St Pancras Station and memories of a hot afternoon on Crofter’s Way. To me, these moments are the latest layer of Kings Cross history, one in which everyday experiences are a vital part.
This work is a poetry installation that simultaneously resists articulation while searching for it.
It mixes my own childhood memories with my daily interactions and experiences here in London – becoming a process of me coming to terms with the inescapable impact that where you are born affects the entire path of your life.
It also touches on the complete unreliability of memory, which exists in a maelstrom as opposed to points on a clear linear path.