Sydenham Hill Wood SE26 - May 2005
The Art of Permanence and Change - An exhibition of contemporary art
Created in conjunction with the London Wildlife Trust
Sydenham Hill Wood is contained within an old railway cutting that used to be part of
the line running from Peckham to Crystal Palace. The first day of the Exhibition was bright , without being to sunny,
providing the perfect lighting for a walk in a beautiful haven within the quiet London suburb of Sydenham
Of all of the webpages that I have put together over the years this was the hardest to compose,
with a limited number of photo's, it proved hard to do both justice to the Wood and justice to the exhibition.
With more forethought I could have lead the viewer through the Art of Permanence and Change, explained the concepts, provided
interviews with the organisers and artists, and highlighted individual exhibits. As it is, I am left with
to few images to present the exhibition as a whole, and a feeling of frustration of a job half done.
Never mind. This is my best effort of a novel idea to present a comtemporary art exhibition out of doors
in the beautiful surroundings of Sydenham Hill Wood.
One could not help but be struck by the light coming through the leaf canopy, in all it's variations of
green. Then there were the trees themselves, such marvellous shapes, silhouetted against the
green.
Joanna Morse Palmer We arrived about
11:00 am just as the Joanna was starting her performance, she approached
out of nowhere, walking through the audience of a dozen or so people, to
take up her position below the powerful looking rope hanging high
from a bough of a tree. There followed a performance that
lasted about twenty minutes consisting mostly of rope work that looked
deceptively easy. Joanna is an extremely fit young lady who moved up
and down the rope with such skill that at times one could be forgiven for
thinking that she was standing on a solid structure rather than
supporting her own weight. Her performance, based on an Oscar Wilde
tale about a nightingale, the need for a red rose and a lover, was
enjoyably gory, and it was nice to have a splash of red in all that
green. Joanne then disappeared back from whence she came, slowly,
and we all moved on to explore the rest of the day.
Helen Morse Palmer A way down the path we came across a stone structure that had
probably been a doorway in a past life, with arched stonework typical of
church entrances, but two small right angled wall sections were all
that remained. Hopeful of a second performance we were disappointed
to learn that Helen's small wooden assistants were stuck in traffic,
probably somewhere on the nearby South Circular. As one of the
Exhibition organisers Helen decided to put this setback behind her and
wandered off to look for either a tripod or a ladder............ as you
would.
John Deller A series of three panels, each at the exit path of a
triangular clearing, provided a stark digital contrast to the softer
shades of green familiar in nature. A casual glance at such exhibits
quickly becomes replaced by an obsession to reconcile each black and white
line with its natural counterpart, we did however, stop short of a family
row. John was an organiser, and odd job man extrordinaire, for the
Exhibition, however, I must admit to a certain conflict of interest
here, having been married to his mother for some considerable period of
time.
All of this fresh air and walking tends to feed the appetite so we
adjorned to the local pub for lunch. The Dulwich Wood House, just at
the top of the road, served a nice pint of Youngs bitter and had a fine
lunchtime menu.
My only slight criticism of the event would be that a few more exhibitors would have been welcome, together with
more frequent performances by those artists who were there on the weekend. Other than that it was a pleasent day
out, so moving on let's have a look at some of the other exhibits.
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