Mapping Our Area Introduction by Shibboleth Shechter & Laura Wilson

This publication brings together 36 maps made by students from first-year BA (Hons) Interior and Spatial Design at Camberwell College of Arts 2019/20. The maps were produced as part of a project exploring and mapping the area locally to Camberwell College of Arts.

The students were introduced to the area through a walk led by artist Laura Wilson who has lived and worked in Southwark since 2004. Meeting at the College the group were taken on a tour exploring the streets just off Peckham Road, taking in sites and places which had either personal or historic interest: Old Southwark Town Hall, Brunswick Park, Sceaux Gardens, Warwick Gardens, Rye Lane, Aylesham Centre and Peckham Library. The students were then invited to explore the area through their own eyes and make their own personal map.

The maps produced are wide ranging and provide an insight into this vibrant area of South London and into the diverse cultural backgrounds of the students studying at the college; they invite you consider the different forms a map can take. This publication includes: a week in the life of a local tree, the anatomy of Peckham, the smells of Camberwell; an architectural map of the different windows along Peckham Road; and a short animation mapping a bus journey.

Camberwell College of Art is situated at 45-65 Peckham Road, mid-way between Camberwell and Peckham. Its neighbour is the South London Gallery, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art who has also partnered on this project. This publication will be launched through an event (tbc) hosted by the South London Gallery and be archived on their website.

Students on a walk with Laura Wilson around the area local to Camberwell College of Art, November 2019

CHULING ZHONG/ WINDOWS Windows are important for communication between indoor and outdoor. Although what we see through a window from the outside is limited, we can still learn a lot about the building, its use, and its inhabitants. Recording all the windows along one street in Camberwell I found a huge range of variation and difference.

GEORGINA LOMBARDERO/ A WALK TO REMEMBER The map is a compilation of fingerprints taken from people who work at selected sites along my chosen route in Camberwell. I chose a route that passed through sites that have meant the most to me over the years. Camberwell is where I grew up and where I have my family home. Each one of these sites has a deep meaning for me. For example, King’s College Hospital was where my mum was born. But mainly it is the people who work at these places which make them so special, so for that reason, I wanted to celebrate them.

XIQUAN LIU / SMELLS OF CAMBERWELL Smell is very personal. Different people probably smell different smells when they are walking down the same road. The sense of smell is strongly linked with memory, more so than other senses. Different people associate the same smells with different memories. I am very sensitive to smell. When I focus on my sense of smell, I experience the local area in a new way and notice that what I smell changes with the change of weather and time of day. My favourite local smell is the smell of fried chicken.