Harriet Mena Hill Preserves Aylesbury Estate Community Through Soft Concrete and The Aylesbury Fragments
Harriet Mena Hill, an artist from South East London, has produced two distinct collections honoring the Aylesbury Estate, a public housing development established in the 1960s and 1970s that once accommodated 11,000 residents. In 2005, authorities opted to demolish and reconstruct the estate due to issues of violence and vandalism. Hill's project commenced in 2018, featuring large wool portraits in her series Soft Concrete, which juxtaposes negative media narratives with the vibrancy of community life. Following the start of demolition in 2020, she began gathering concrete pieces for her ongoing painting series, The Aylesbury Fragments. Regeneration, initiated in 2013, is currently under 50% complete. Hill has created over 150 paintings and intends to continue as long as construction persists, with exhibitions planned until 2027.
Key facts
- The Aylesbury Estate is a public housing complex in South East London built throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with a peak population of 11,000 residents.
- In 2005, local officials decided to demolish and rebuild the estate in phases rather than rehabilitate existing structures.
- Harriet Mena Hill was commissioned in 2018 to teach a summer program for young residents, which led to her engagement with the project.
- Hill created large wool portraits, blending dyed roving to depict windows, electrical wires, and graffiti, forming the series Soft Concrete.
- Demolition began in 2020, prompting Hill to collect concrete fragments from the construction site during lockdown.
- The Aylesbury Fragments is an ongoing series of paintings on concrete remnants, with more than 150 completed to date.
- Regeneration of the estate began in 2013 and is less than half complete.
- Long-time resident Aysen Dennis was forced to leave after 30 years and said her new central London housing was not her home in a 2023 BBC interview.
- Hill has exhibitions slated for London and across the U.K. throughout 2027.
Entities
Artists
- Harriet Mena Hill
- Aysen Dennis
- Jon Cardwell
Institutions
- Aylesbury Estate
- BBC
- Colossal
- Camberwell College of Arts
- Hi-Fructose
- Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
- Thames-Side Studios Gallery
- Duncan Campbell Fine Art
- Southwark Council
- Channel 4
- London Festival of Architecture
- Walworth Town Hall
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- South East London
- Aylesbury Estate
- Southwark