Cutting It

Ah! Back to it. School holidays are over and much has happend since I last posted. I have had a week long residency at the Library which was interesting and revealing. Unlike the other residencies I have held for this project it was was targeted at adults. The Library in Muswell Hill has very distinct and separate areas for the adult and children’s libraries. Sited on different floors children rarely enter the adult library for any length of time and their usual chatter is discouraged by their parents/carers when they do. This is not library policy – libraries are not the silent places they used to be – but due to this distinct separation (not found so much in newer libraries) Muswell Hill’s adult visitors tend to perpetuate this behaviour. This meant that as I arrived with a rather large paper relief sculpture and my ‘Map-Me’ activity it caused a bit of a stir and a few raised eyebrows. Over the week I came to realise that some of the library regulars really viewed the library as an extension of their own homes. It is their library. They visit every day, at around the same time, mainly to read the papers – which happened to be the space in which I was based. Happily enough by the end of the week I had won round most of them – the maps working their magic and drawing people in. I learnt a huge amount about the areas history and peoples own accounts of their time in Muswell Hill, about their special places and memories. Why they came, why they had to leave or why they will never leave. It was so wonderful to meet so many people and hear their stories. And I got some work done too!