Emily Tracy: Ilford Directory

11 Oct 2022-30 Apr 2023

Ilford Directory, 2022. Credit: Azqueta-arts

Overview

Imagine the wealth of knowledge, resources and experience that are contained within Ilford. What would an Ilford directory of life tips look like? What would it include, share and pass on?

No matter what age we are, if we have been through a life stage, threshold or experience we have little pieces of wisdom to pass on. Small things that we learn every day.

This might be anything from: ‘Know your bus routes’, to something that takes longer to learn like ‘Be kind to yourself’ or ‘Spend time in green spaces’.

Many of us have re-evaluated life on different levels during recent times. What is important, what do we care about and what do we want to do differently?

The Ilford Directory has been imagined and co-created with Ilford residents. Teachers from schools around the borough came together to pool their top tips for life and to create collages. Then photos of Redbridge people and places, both past and present, were contributed through open calls.

Artist Emily Tracy makes site-specific projects inspired by place. Ilford Directory was inspired by the compendiums, encyclopaedias and archives housed in Redbridge Central Library, opposite SPACE’s gallery in Ilford, and the young people using the space to study.

Artists