“Meanwhile, back in Hackney Wick…”

Meanwhile back in Hackney Wick… Commissioned by Anna Maloney, Director of Hackney WickED. www.hackneywickED.co.uk... Directed and edited by Martha McAlpine, www.mcalpinefilms.com The film documents the ideas and the process behind the painting of the Lord Napier Pub. It also features the ‘Burning of Homogenisation Funeral Procession’ the closing ceremony of last years DIY open studios. Screened during the Hackney WickED DIY Open Studios 2017 at The Yard Theatre for their Matryoshka event. “ Hackney Wick, to me, feels like a place where anyone who steps foot into the area, is free to be themselves. Between its streets and yards anything can happen, all forms of expression, uniqueness and individuality. It is hard to find that kind of spirit anywhere else in London. The film I hope, portrays this reality along with the artists who make this ex-industrial corner of London, their own.” Martha McAlpine- the filmmaker Walking through Hackney Wick right now is like walking through part-demolition and part-construction site. It is a brutal scene. New generic boring brown apartment blocks are being erected from the rubble of the old victorian industrial buildings which have been brought down to make way for them. “I am just scared, of sanitisation, homogenisation…. and we are a very close community.” Aida Wilde, Hackney Wicked DIY Open Studios, Summer 2016 Artists are being evicted from their studio homes by the day but their art still lingers around every corner, on every wall. This time the wall-canvass has become a protest space. The work of Aida Wilde amongst others are plastered around the Wick. Slogans that shout things like ‘Out with the hippies, in with the yuppies’, ‘For sale’ and ‘Everything must Go’, making the feelings clear about the current state of affairs in what has been her home for many years. Hackney Wick is the latest victim of gentrification in our capital and although the artist community has been aware of the inevitability of it for years, it is still painful to witness the destruction of the studios and forcing out of an entire community. Not only a community but a culture, a significant hub for art-making and a unique way of a life that is quickly becoming extinct in the new post modern, post industrial cities of the future. Hackney Wick is a place where visitors come from around the world to see and buy art every year for the Hackney WickED Artists Open Studios. Save Hackney Wick are doing their best to fight for Vittoria Wharf which is due to be demolished in order to make way for a bridge as part of all the new residential development but it seems that the forces of Meanwhile Back In Hackney Wick… documents the re -painting of the Lord Napier pub, planned and realised by Aida Wilde and Anna Maloney for the 2016 Hackney WickED Open Studios. It also features the Burning of Homogenisation Funeral Procession which was devised and brought together by Marie Brenneis and Aida Wilde. Full Article: http://mcalpinefilms.com/meanwhile-ba...