Southwark Today x Heritage Centre Open Day
Syrup, a social design studio and magazine, are working with Southwark Today on an exciting project about Southwark, local identity and the power of storytelling. Through a programme of events and creative workshops, Syrup aims to document and archive the experiences, voices and stories included in the local history of the borough.
On the 9th of October, the Southwark Heritage Centre and Walworth Library opened their doors for a day of workshops, collaborative making and discussions about Southwark, the importance of archiving and the sustainability of preserving histories in the face of climate change.
sweet-thang hosted a zine-making workshop for the public - and what a day it was! Everyone who gathered to make zines were super enthusiastic about documenting their thoughts and artwork in an intentional way - there was not a zine that was left unfinished. The space was bright and welcoming for people of all ages to express themselves artistically, share ideas and learn. It was great teaching young people how to fold a traditional A7 zine and then watching them teach their friends and parents. It was truly a day of creative collaboration. People made zines about themselves, their local identity, and everything in between.
The best thing about hosting a zine-making workshop isn't just the fact that you get to physically share the space with others, but that you are brought back to the essence of zines as a medium. With sweet-thang being digitally made, it's sometimes easy to forget about the physicality and immediacy that comes with putting pen, glue and scissors to paper. It's the feeling of a document being one-of-a-kind and messily unique. The physical making is part of the magic. See scans from participants below.
The day featured a mural making workshop with artists Nicki Deux and Abi Chapman, as well as pattern making & memory mapping, a "Future of Heritage" discussion, stories of market traders by Latin Hub and a Southwark today photography display. The Heritage Centre and Walworth library also have a co-working space. It is a beautiful gem that I would encourage everyone to check out and explore!
Thank you Southwark Today and Syrup Magazine for curating such a wonderful day. Here's to more zine workshops and creative collaboration. <3
Photography by Tom McCaughan.
Written by Zoe Thompson
founder of sweet-thang zine
Read more about her here