THE 'SOUTHWARK MARSH' AND 'AUTHORS OF THE CITY PUBLISHING HOUSE'

by Sarah Daoudi

The Colorado River has been violated: dammed, channelled, appropriated, exploited, polluted, its delta sucked dry by uncontrolled consumption. The film, Koyaanisqatsi explores the exploitation of nature by humankind. In the pursuit of our individualism, we have abused our planet, filled it with plastic. The Southwark Marsh project is an experiential gallery, where visitors immerse themselves in the magic of un-diverted rain, flowing, flooding and pouring - sprouting new life in its wake. Counter to past social revolutions, the 21st century city has seen an insidious counter-revolution, colonised by luxury housing, developers make a killing: gentrifying, privatising and socially cleansing their way to profit. Ordinary Londoners are marginalised and suffocated by reduced funding and low wages. The Authors of the City publishing project will become a local focal point of agency, empowerment and mobilisation for working-class people, a place to write, publish and own their stories, an archive of unwritten histories.