“Architectural Disaster” or Home? An Art Exhibition that challenges the “21st Century Slum” Label in North Kensington LONDON — In 1976, a planning officer for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea admitted that regeneration in North Kensington was creating a “21st century slum.” Fifty years later, a landmark exhibition at Morley Gallery North Kensington confronted this legacy, reframing the narrative through the eyes of the community that refused to be managed into decline. The exhibition ran from May 7th to May 30th 2026, bringing together the work of documentary artist Kevin Percival and filmmaker Constantine Gras. Together, they offered an intimate, "insider" record of the Wornington Green, Silchester, and Lancaster West estates — the latter being the site of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.  Photo of Grace Zipki by Kevin Percival, 2020. Norman Butler House walkway, Wornington Green Estate. Grace Zipki: It has been hell for me these past six years living on Wornington Green. I had mould and they kept coming to treat it, but just painting over it. Then I had a big flood, water coming all the way down to my living room. It was just before Christmas and I was crying on the phone to Catalyst Housing begging them not to leave me and my asthmatic son here. On Christmas Day the entire property was covered in midges. I was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties. I think it was the 20th of January 2023 when they decided to temporarily move me to the new development on Portobello Square. The place was so small, there was no storage space and not even enough room for a woman to have a dressing table. There was cladding on the building that they were removing and again I pleaded with Catalyst that it was not right to move me from a leaky property to what was a building site. They continued to treat me as if I'm not a human being. It took them eight to nine months just to fix up my flat. And in that time I lost all my property to the damp. I had to spent thousands of my own savings to replace a double bed, two wardrobes, a dining table and a sofa. And today having moved back into my flat, I still have one repair outstanding. It feels like i've committed a crime by living on Wornington Green and I now want to move off the estate. I don’t trust Peabody who have taken over from Catalyst. They are a threat to my life. I suffer from anxiety and depression.  Photo of Keith Stirling at the private view of 21st Century Slum. Keith Stirling: In November 2025 I eventually moved into my new flat in Portobello Square. It took a little bit of getting used to as I have downsized from two bedrooms to one bedroom. And there was only two items that I brought with me to this flat, my TV and fridge freezer. Everything else here is new. There have been teething problems with the building. We've got two lifts but one has been out for months and months. And on one occasion both lifts were out and it's no joke having to carry shopping up four floors. But the overall quality of the build, unlike earlier phases, is quite high. And a lot of people who lived in Peplar House, where I lived for 50 years, have moved in here which is really nice. I've managed to build a little winter garden here which I like to sit out on. I don't believe in plastic plants. And I've got some fairies out there but we won't talk about that because people might come round with white coats and carry me away.  Photo of Edward Daffarn. Flat 134 on the 16th floor of Grenfell Tower, 2015. Edward Daffarn: I used to love taking note of nature around Grenfell Tower with my binoculars. I would be sitting by my window on evenings and there would be feathers floating down past my window. It would be the Peregrine falcon or some other some raptor that had captured a bird and was eating it on the roof. With the building of the Kensington Aldridge Academy we began to lose that green space and residential amenities. That was why we fought against it. Standing under the burnt carcass of Grenfell in the days after the fire, I was convinced that it would be the catalyst for meaningful change and that a legacy would be created for the 72 lives that were lost. I am still heartbroken at how little has changed. The way that people are still living in unsafe buildings. How people who live in social housing are not being listened to and respected. The governments focus now is on building these million homes that they promised. And my message is, if you can't make safe the homes that we already live in, then you're not fit to build a million new homes. It’s going to be May next year when the Crown Prosecution Service announce their charges. That will be just under 10 years since the fire. They have had 120 police officers working for 10 years on it. It's the biggest murder investigation in the history of the Met Police. Some of the people that were responsible for Grenfell will go to court and answer for what they did.  Photo of Jo, Bertie and Michael. Waynflete Square, Silchester Estate, 2015.  Bertie and Michael, 2026. Michael Jardine: It’s a strong moment of coincidence- being invited to think back to a portrait of my partner and I and our tiny baby son taken by Constantine in our flat against the backdrop of upheaval and potential wholesale demolition of the Silchester Estate. Jo suffered a brain injury in a road accident nearly ten years ago very much in the midst of the stress and chaos of the threat to our home and remained profoundly physically and cognitively disabled up to her death earlier this year and it seems fitting now to allow myself to remember what we’ve lost even if the flat is still there, and it’s still home. I taught myself to print photographs in the bathroom during Covid lockdown, when I was looking after a very small child on my own. Grenfell Tower is finally being dismantled, and the housing of Silchester Estate that we were told ten years ago was beyond its useful life is being refurbished and upgraded: all as a consequence of the Grenfell fire. The model of providing housing at large scale that drove the now-abandoned Silchester Regeneration hasn’t really changed at all: it’s still driven by market economics at a massive scale. The “Housing Crisis” that justified (we were told) rebuilding the Estate at a massively increased density is still a hot political issue: the politicians either promise reform of housing provision (and building safety, dare we mention its name) or accept the overtures of the lobbyists working for commercial property developers to adjust the parameters of development in favour of profit. I still think a lot about the dialectic between ‘home’ and ‘housing’, that despite the developers’ and councillors’ language of “providing much-needed homes”, they are in fact creating housing and it’s up to the people who live there to make homes. And families, and meals, and art. Especially art.  Photo of Hanan Wahabi. 2021. Hanan Wahabi: Over the past eight years, my role on the memorial commission has been deeply personal as well as a responsibility I carry on behalf of others. As a bereaved community representative, I have worked to ensure that the voices, memories, and dignity of those we lost are honoured with care, truth, and humanity. This work is not abstract to me. It is rooted in my own experience of loss. In the Grenfell Tower fire, I lost five members of my family: my brother, his wife, and their three children. I am also a survivor of that night. These experiences shape everything I bring to the commission. They guide my commitment to remembrance, to justice, and to creating a legacy that reflects both the lives that were lived and the community that continues to endure. Being part of this process over the last eight years has meant holding space for grief while also contributing to something that looks forward. A memorial that speaks not only of loss, but of love, resilience, and community. Alongside this work, I am now writing a book with my children. It will include illustrations reflecting our time living in Grenfell Tower and our memories of home. We are being supported in this creative process by our friends and fellow artists - Constantine Gras and Natasha Langridge. It is another way we are ensuring that our stories, and those of our loved ones, are never forgotten.  Francis and Rock Oil pastel, 2024 Francis Wallace Grenfell, was a senior army officer who led British soldiers against Zulu tribes and also took part in the invasion and colonisation of Egypt in 1882. When he died in 1925, he was considered a war hero and a small back-road in North Kensington was named after him. Grenfell Tower takes half of its name from a former colonial soldier. Many of the victims of the fire were from former British Colonies or occupied territories. An aristocratic councillor, Rock Feilding-Mellen, was RBKC’s lead on housing for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment and sent emails expressing his personal preference for "battleship grey" cladding over "champagne" or "neon lime green". Focused on the aesthetic appearance of the tower, he admitted to the inquiry that he had only "skimmed" critical fire safety guidance from the London Fire Brigade. This drawing was made on a 2 week residency at Brisons Veor, Cornwall, where Constantine was working on a book project with the Wahabi family about their life before the Grenfell Tower fire. During this residency horrific events were unfolding in the Middle East. Constantine’s art work has depicted Francis Wallace Grenfell and/or Rock Fielding-Mellen astride a ship - firing cannon balls across the landscapes of North Kensington, Cornwall and the Gaza Strip.  Save London Now Oil Pastel, 2015 The Radical Housing Network, local activists and artists squatted an empty shop on 221 Brompton Road hosting workshops, talks and a pop-up community centre to protest the UK's housing crisis and the Housing Bill going through parliament that threatened to further decimate social housing stock. Art as witness and record of resilence The exhibition captured a community navigating sixteen years of demolition, displacement and resettlement. While new "Portobello Square" flats on the former Wornington Green estate now command prices of £700,000, we document the human cost and the enduring spirit of those left behind. From residents protesting the loss of 200 local trees to voices ignored before the 2017 fire, the exhibition is a powerful testament to survival.
Reviews 'The true spirit of the Grove'. Tom, Urban Dandy 'Thank you for this powerful exhibition. I teach architecture students over at Westminster Uni about Grenfell - this exhibition has given me a lot to think about in terms of how I teach and present this to students’. Shukri Sultan 'A really beautiful picture of resistance and community in the midst of so much turmoil and loss. Really inspiring to see'. Mim 'Great exhibition! An archive of our social history and the people in our community who have and were instrumental in fighting for injustice and equality’. Isis Amlak 'A great coming together of meaningful and poignant art work, documentation and imagery’. Susan Austin.  
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