Kirsty Kerr ~ Come and Rest

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COME AND REST, 2018. Series of public interventions. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST, 2018. Series of public interventions. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST, 2018. Series of public interventions. Documentation by Will Alcock.
Scripture verse letters on the old Bethnal Green Mission Church, 2017.
Archive photograph of the old Bethnal Green Mission Church, 1966.

The words were a gentle yet radical proclamation: an invitation of welcome and refuge, and a quiet protest against the loneliness and exhaustion so often synonymous with city life. The act of spelling them out became a performed prayer, symbolic of the church’s continued presence in the community.

Come and Rest ~ Interventions

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COME AND REST: Bethnal Green Library
“Bethnal Green Library is a listed building that was previously part of the Bethnal House Lunatic Asylum, which operated until 1920. The surrounding gardens are still known as ‘Barmy Park’ to East End locals today.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST: Brick Lane
“Brick Lane is known for its many curry houses and, despite gentrification, remains the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community. Successive waves of migrants have settled in this area over the years ~ its current Great London Mosque was previously a Jewish Synagogue, and prior to that, a French Huguenot Chapel.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST: Roman Road
“Roman Road merges with Bethnal Green Road and was a centre for Suffragette activity in the early 1900s. The Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial, seen here, commemorates the 173 victims of the worst civilian disaster of WW2.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST: Cranbrook Estate
“Cranbrook Estate opened in 1963 and was designed by Soviet Russian architect Berthold Lubetkin. It consists of six tower blocks and remains a monument to post~war ambitions to ‘house the people’ after the London Blitz.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST: Turin Street
“Turin Street leads onto a number of council blocks that are undergoing refurbishment. To outsiders, these flats might appear to be alienating, imposing, isolated. But inside there is often a sense of community that cuts across class and ethnic lines.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.‍
COME AND REST: Arnold Circus
“Arnold Circus sits at the centre of the Boundary Estate, thought to be the world’s first council estate, which opened in 1896. Its celebrated bandstand was built on a raised mound, made of rubble from the levelling of what was London’s most notorious Victorian slum.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.‍‍
‍COME AND REST: Weavers Fields
“Weavers Fields is the largest park in Bethnal Green. Its name commemorates the historic silk~weaving industry that was brought to the area by Protestant Huguenot refugees, fleeing France in the late 17th century due to religious persecution.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.‍
COME AND REST: Kirton Gardens
“Kirton Gardens is a housing estate south of Columbia Road, which is famous for its Victorian shops and Sunday flower market. It’s particularly significant to me as the estate I grew up on ~ my siblings’ bedrooms still overlook this basketball court.”
1 of 8. Documentation by Will Alcock.

To mark its reopening, a series of COME AND REST photographs were displayed in the new church building, inaugurating its community exhibition space, the One Wall Gallery. Accompanying texts celebrated the diverse histories of Bethnal Green landmarks, and postcards gave visitors an opportunity to respond with the prompt: “What's your place of rest?”

Come and Rest ~ Exhibition

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COME AND REST exhibition for the One Wall Gallery at The Beehive, Bethnal Green. Photo by Rich Herbert.‍
COME AND REST response postcards for visitors.‍
COME AND REST postcard responses from visitors.
COME AND REST exhibition for the One Wall Gallery at The Beehive, Bethnal Green.
COME AND REST documentation photography by Will Alcock.
COME AND REST intervention outside The Beehive and the site of the new Bethnal Green Mission Church.

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