Frank Smith lives in Thamesmead. He has worked for Peabody for 17 years, first as a neighbourhood warden and now as a neighbourhood manager. Frank talked a lot
about his role within the community of Thamesmead and how it has impacted him. I was inspired by Frank’s passion for his community and his fear of gentrification. While listening to his story, the quote, “I fear we’re gonna build lovely new shiny houses, make everything nice again, but we will lose the people that have lived here for so long…” resonated with me. I wanted to capture this within my embroidery. I decided to use a silhouette for a man’s head to represent Frank Smith, with a block of flats inside to represent Thamesmead. Around the outside of the silhouette I placed floating figures as a way of highlighting the people that Frank has come in contact with.
Follow the link to Frank’s story https://g-foew.art/story/we-used-to-walk-across-the-marshes/