Grenfell Haunts Cornwall

​This is my first blog post in over two years. I would like to thank Brisons Veor Trust for supporting my two-week artist residency at Cape Cornwall. This came at just the right time in my life.

I used the studio space (most distant house in photo above) to produce two large scale drawings. This was research for a book making project that I will running from 2024-2026. The book will be about the hope, joy and culture of community life at Grenfell Tower before the fire on 14th June 2017 that claimed the lives of 72 men, women and children. The research and development phase for the book has involved working with Hanan Wahabi and her two children. 

​The first drawing I made in the studio was about my identity as an artist trying to breathe in a challenging world where local and global issues such as inequality, exploitation and climate change threaten the sanity of even the most robust and seasoned of constitutions.

I took inspiration from the chimney on the top of the cliff overlooking the studio. This is the only surviving built structure of a once flourishing tin-mining industry. I first imagined the Victorian steam and noxious gases flowing up and out of the chimney and reverse engineered the process. The chimney and ducting, in my drawing, has been transformed into a network of larynx and trachea filtering out poisonous matter for my lungs. The ceaseless Atlantic swells act as a leitmotif, heartbeat, succour.  

​On a cinematic level, I hadn’t anticipated the hypnotic views and wild call of nature. Each morn, I clambered up the cliff to the National Coastwatch Lookout Station. I filmed a short interview with Station Manager, Richard Saynor. I was touched by the role of these volunteers who support emergency services to ensure safety on this stretch of the coast. Our conversation touched on the desperate plight of migrants trying to cross the English Channel. How Richard’s job might be so very different in that context!

I came to Cornwall for a creative and meditative break from London. But on a day trip to Mousehall, I turned a corner of the sleepy coastal village and stumbled across Grenfell Street. I then realised this must be where bereaved and surviving families came for respite holidays. After some googling, I contacted Esme Page, who provides this wonderful service with her charity called Cornwall Hugs. She told me about the Penlee lifeboat disaster when 16 people from her community died in 1981. And that in response to the tragedy at Grenfell, Esme campaigned the council to get Grenfell street re-signposted with a green heart of solidarity.

Another discovery was forthcoming. Why had a street in Cornwall and a road in London been called Grenfell?.

I visited the lovely church in St Just. On display, was a maritime flag from the battleship Revenge which had presented to the church by Captain Russell Grenfell after World War One. I learnt that the Grenfell family had Cornish roots. A Victorian member, 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. 

These historical elements are fused with burning contemporary issues in the second large scale drawing I made in the studio at Cornwall. This shows Grenfell Road and Street intersecting at a point of war and bloodshed. The drawing was being sketched as horrific events were unfolding in the Middle East. I have depicted Francis Wallace Grenfell astride a ship - firing cannon balls across the landscapes of North Kensington, Cornwall and the Gaza Strip. 

I felt at home here in Cape Cornwall, temporarily away from my troubled London. I documented the residents of Grenfell Tower from 2015-16 in their struggles to be heard during the fatal regeneration; this became the BAFTA and Grierson award winning documentary, Grenfell: The Untold Story. I had to hand over film and photos to the police in their investigation and have made short films for the bereaved and survivors they have used as part of their testimony. We live in a community that has experienced so much trauma. Has not received any justice. This summer, after almost seven years, the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry is expected to publish its definitive recommendations and the criminal prosecutions will follow.

We wait with bated breath. My next blog will not be posted in two years.   ​