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View Aida artwork HERE

Art of Ping Pong’s Exhibition and Charity Auction
— In partnership with The Civic, Barnsley and Choose Love

Together with The Civic and Choose Love we’ve curated a selection of
contemporary and well-loved artists to create another brilliant collection
of hand crafted ping pong paddles.

The exhibition, held at The Civic, runs from 10th September until 10th
November.

Each unique artwork is available via this online auction.

The auction closes at midnight on the 10th October.

The money raised will be donated to The Civic and Choose Love.

The Civic, Barnsley
The Civic exists to provide Barnsley and the surrounding communities
with a culturally significant voice.

Our aim is to present a progressive programme of festivals, exhibitions
performance and events that relate to the area, social, economic and
political attitudes whilst also entertaining and encouraging debate.

We are passionate about people of all ages and backgrounds having
access to the best possible arts and cultural experiences on their own
doorstep.

barnsleycivic.co.uk / @civicbarnsley

Choose Love
Choose Love does whatever it takes to provide refugees and displaced
people with everything from lifesaving rescue boats to food and legal
advice.

Our work has reached over 3.5 million people
and supported over 380 fast-acting community organisations across
Europe, the Middle East and along the US-Mexico border.

Everything we do is powered by a vision of a world that chooses love
and justice every day, for everyone.

chooselove.org / @chooselove

Art of Ping Pong
Art of Ping Pong sits at the nexus of art and play. Fusing art with
functional design, we create vibrant objects of art to populate our living

spaces. These objects also have a real life, dual, purpose. To bring joy
and a connection to others through play.

We are also on a mission to become the most spirited art + play brand
on the planet. So we have a strong focus on supporting good causes.
Since our inception we have raised over £25k for charity.

theartofpingpong.co.uk / @artof_pingpong

Croydon RISE Festival [CroydonsRising]
5-15th September 2018
Urban Art. Block Parties. Events. Tours. Talks

‘This September, Croydon hosted RISE festival, London’s newest and largest international urban art festival.
RISE festival is a celebration of the globally recognised movement that is urban art. In a short time, this increasingly popular art form has not only caught the imagination of people around the world but has grown its identity with visual diversity at an incredible rate. It is becoming harder to find a town or city in any part of the world that doesn’t feature some form of urban or street art.”
Rise Gallery [Website]

I was invited to participate in the 1st edition of Rise Festival this September, in a bid for Croydon in becoming the go to destination for the largest outdoor gallery in years to come.
Despite being in Zone 5 and London expanding at the rate that it has been in some years, it was surprising easy to reach from Hackney Wick.
At first impressions, it seemed to going through it’s 3rd faze of “regeneration” with somewhat confusing identity. A “Box Park” greets you as soon as you get out of East Croydon station, with craft beer & independent food stands.
5 minutes down the road, you see Croydon Art college with youths sprawled out wearing college ID’s with hope and aspirations, I just remember thinking, if you only knew that we are all fucked.
And 5 minutes further down, there is thriving high street, with your usual chain stores and coffee houses. And around the corner from this, was the abandoned, almost 29 days later style parade called St Georges Walk, where Rise gallery was situated and the epicentre for the festival.
I was initially very apprehensive about taking part in the festival, as from experience tells me, that  artificially injecting street art anywhere, is only going to propel the gentrification process. Croydon council seemed to have been somewhat the brainchild of this project with the aim for it to becoming an annual event. The funds seemed to have come from other resources including The Arts Council & some developers….hummmm

It was for this reason that at my own risk and putting my neck on the line, I agreed to create a piece of work which would reflect what was happening in Croydon and what was to become.
I had a choice of a few shop fronts to choose from at St Georges Walk as most of the tenants had been displaced, some even after 20 years of having a business there in the premise that all or “some” would be relocated.
As far as I am aware, the block and the surrounding offices is bought by a development company from Hong Kong, I’m only assuming this was due to the fact the Croydon has a large Asian community.
The sad feeling of abandonment swept over me, as I choose the Pretty In Pink Maureen’s, which use to sell sewing supplies. I thought it was quite apt with my background in fashion. It wasn’t that long ago that I had to give up my shop and business in Brick Lane due to gentrification and high rent rises, so this really hit a nerve.

I aimed for the work to present and argument, a voice to highlight the reality of what was really going on, and use my experience having been the victim of living and working in many ‘regenerated’ areas & to try and say something….for the people and myself.  The issue needed to be addressed and there was no point for the festival to sweep it under the carpet and pretend that they did not have a hand in trying to accelerate and elevate the area through street art.
Luckily for me, the two curators of the project, Jason [WhereTheresWalls] and Nelly Balaz [Monoprixx] were open and supportive of my idea and promised not to implement any censorship within the work.
Therefore I knew that I had to do this project.
So, it was Maureen’s destiny to turn into the worlds BEST/WORST Estate Agents….the best for the stomach churning 1% and the worst, the rest of us 99%ers who can’t afford anything in there.
You can read full coverage and process photos on Butterfly News, Street Art News  and Instagrafite Mag [includes more written about my past projects]
Many thanks to Sandra and Julie for the support and the documentation of the process which proved to me invaluable as three weeks after it’s completion, the art work was deliberately and meticulously attacked the installation, trying to erase the truth that once was said.
Many thanks to Tanya Nash [Notice What You Notice Blog] who discovered and notified me with the news and for supplying the “After” photo.

Finally, a festival like this isn’t easy and I would really like to thank Jason & Nelly for all their support and hard work, & treating me & the Art Mafia so well and for specially, not censoring my voice.

LESS HOMES 4U
IT’S OUT WITH THE HIPSTERS IN WITH THE YUPSTERS
LONG DRAMATIC         PAUSE
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR %ONE [Affordable Housing For 0%/No One]
WHERE ONLY THE 1% C[O]UNT (Swing Sign)
LESS HOMES 4U CALL 0800WHOCARES

Turning Refugee Bank Notes Into Art For Charity:London-based artist Aida Wilde has created a powerful series of works on banknotes for charity Help Refugees that will be launched next week at theCash is King II show at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The show opens on the 21^st of August and runs until the 8^th of September.

Aida Wilde was born in Iran and arrived in the UK in the mid 1980s as a political refugee. In this striking body of work, she uses banknotes from Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Syria as her canvas, and works in ‘money ink’ she painstakingly created from pulped banknotes. Sourced by curators Susan Hansen and Olly Walker, these banknotes represent some of the countries that have seen the highest numbers of people become refugees in recent years.

In an immediate and intuitive response to these banknotes, Wilde has used the iconic ‘Choose Love’ slogan, gifted to charity Help Refugees by the iconic activist-designer Katharine Hamnett. All proceeds from the sale of Aida’s work will go to supporting Help Refugees’ work around the world.

Curators Susan Hansen and Olly Walker said, “When we first gave Aida the banknotes from Help Refugees to work with, she could not even look at the Iraqi Dinars. She slid them out of sight under the other banknotes. Aida said she felt that Choose Love’s message of hope, love, dignity and humanity could not fit with the image of Saddam Hussain – whose image is branded on the notes. Aida’s family were directly impacted by Hussain’s tyrannical government, and fled Iran in the 1980s, when she was a child.”

“We assured Aida that of course it was not necessary to work with the Iraqi banknotes if this would prove traumatic, but a week later, she sent through some process shots of the notes she had been busy transforming, which to our surprise included the Iraqi Dinars.”

Aida Wilde said, “The whole process of working with these notes was so instinctive. At first, I couldn’t even touch them. But then, I started working. It felt very personal.”

Aida’s work will available for sale on the Saatchi website from 2pm on Tuesday the 20^th of August. All proceeds will go to support Help Refugees’ work around the world.

Cash is King II: Money Talks features works of art executed on banknotes. This remarkable exhibition showcases a unique collection of defaced money art that has been sent in from all over the world for inclusion in the second Cash is King book. The book and exhibition were conceived by mixed-media artists Bob Osborne and Carrie Reichardt. The Cash is King II exhibition has been curated by Olly Walker of Ollystudio.

For more information, contact Dr Susan Hansen: s.hansen@mdx.ac.uk; 07454729393