Preview: The Working Artist: The East London Group

curated by Michael Rosen and Emma-Louise Williams
New series of commemorative public artworks unveiled to celebrate historic group of East End artists

Three new public artworks will be unveiled on Bow Road to celebrate the return of the East London Group’s historic paintings to Bow at the Nunnery Gallery. Selected and curated by writer broadcaster Michael Rosen – whose parents were contemporaries of the Group’s artists – and radio producer film-maker Emma-Louise Williams, over 50 works will be on show in the Gallery, documenting the changing face of east London’s streets since the 1920s.

The accompanying public artworks will commemorate this little-known group of artists, who, made up of ordinary working men and women, painted alongside their day jobs. Today’s ‘working artists’, Lindsey Mendick, Marcus Orlandi and Maxima Smith, have each taken a different aspect of the Group’s rich history to make new work that outlines their significance to a contemporary audience.

Mendick, who recently performed at the Zabludowicz Collection, will commemorate a new park bench in the Group’s memory, installed at the iconic Bow Church and embedded with miniature ceramics that symbolise the quiet moments of now and then – including a Daily Worker newspaper, paint brushes and a crisp packet. Orlandi – known for his politically engaged work, as featured in the Art Licks Weekenders and the acclaimed Shuffle Festival – will explore the all too clear parallels between member Albert Turpin’s fight against anti-fascism in Cable Street and our own contemporary struggle against extreme views with the banner Control; Alt Right: Delete, to be installed outside the Bow Bells pub.

Smith’s new film series Ode to a Window Cleaner subtly remembers Turpin’s day job, filming the mesmerising lines and gestures of contemporary East End window washers at work. Installed at the People’s Palace at Queen Mary University of London – where remnants of a mural by member Phyllis Bray still stand – Smith will also present an accompanying performance as part of the Nunnery Gallery’s Frieze First Thursday event.