“Hello! We’re gathering in stories!” At Cody Dock’s memory wall, that’s the first step in finding out what people might contribute.
The memory wall started with my drawing giant loops of the river Lea. Across three events, I’ve sketched people’s stories for them or coaxed them to add their own: family histories, working lives, childhood memories, wildlife encounters… and often, it’s the people who think they have nothing to add who say something wonderful as they wander off.
Yes, this could be a form. But as with a creative brief, a fixed set of questions invites a fixed set of answers. This process leaves room for people to answer questions we wouldn’t even think to ask, and to start conversations.
It takes a client with particular vision and creative confidence to come up with this approach (thank you, Cody Dock). For the latest event, part of Open House and Totally Thames, three new panels have been added, a bit of extra geography has added to our loops of river and that’s drawn in even more stories.
