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Home / Archive / Docklands Community Poster Project / The Photo-murals / First Sequence The Photo-murals First Sequence The first photo-mural sequence dealt with the issue at the forefront of everyone's mind. What is going on behind our backs? Years of consultation by the Labour led boroughs had been rejected by the newly appointed London Docklands Development Corporation in favour of the practical enactment of Thatcherist policy. This photo-mural sequence followed the nature and concerns of the campaigning. It began with a question, then considered the scenario that people could see being enacted around them. "Big Money is moving in and is pushing out local people," explained one activist at a public meeting, so naming the next image of the sequence. The artists attended the meetings of every campaigning group during that period to familiarise themselves with the issues. At these events activists were often heard to express their ideas through visual metaphor, and these became the inspiration for the imagery. Representations also changed to follow the development of ideas. For example, although fear of being thrown 'on the scrap heap' was clearly expressed, local response to the image depicting this was indignant. The 'scrap heap' was seen as the developers' design on Docklands, not where the communities saw themselves. The image sequence unfolded to reveal that this scenario truly was a 'design' and not a reality. The nature of the campaigning itself was transforming, and found new strength in a pro-active approach. As the then chair of the Association of Wapping Organisations proclaimed, " There has been a lot of talk about land, land for this, land for that. But Docklands is not about land, it's about people. And the birthright of the people is being sold off. Although the people have never owned the land, they've lived on it, worked on it, died on it. It is their heritage - it should be their future." The final image in the sequence was a portrait of all those concerned in the campaigning, while also documenting recent events. Using the device of history painting, it foregrounded the central characters against the landscape within which this drama was being enacted, and reflected the new strength through solidarity that was being developed by the campaigning communities.
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