Thanks for the Memories!

My last blog already! 

It was my fourth and final engagement session yesterday and I had another good session – this time up the other end of the City Arcade by Shelton Square. I was told that this space used to house a sizeable birdcage, floor to ceiling, as part of the shopping centre. A number of people I’ve met have been keen to share their memories of the city and it has got me thinking about the link between memory and place.

Soon the whole Arcade will become a memory, as it has been marked for demolition and development within a couple of years. I think that’s one of the nice things about this project – people have been encouraged to look at the Arcade in ways that they’ve not done before and so hopefully will have clearer memories of it when it’s gone. I’ve also got all the drawings which serve as an interesting capture of the place. It’s somehow fitting that, like memories they are only part of the picture, a fragment or a trace of something that was, and uniquely subjective. 

For my own interest I decided to layer up some of the images people made, to give a sense of overlapping vision and interpretation of the Arcade. Some I’ve tried to deliberately stitch together to recreate a sense of space, others have been more aesthetic choices.

I’ve enjoyed my time working as part of The Show Windows: Reflections project.  What I’ve appreciated most is feeling greater connection to the city and its people in a post lockdown world.

Yesterday I met a Coventrian in his late 60s who told me ‘I love my city. You’ve got to love your own city. And want to protect it’. I really liked this. It’s not that we don’t see the flaws in the place but we want it to succeed and do well. I think that’s what’s great about projects like this and the City of Culture as a whole – it feels like it’s bringing a new pride in the city, a sense of excitement, and a renewed level of hope.