Between September and December 2018, Peckham-based artist Rosalie Schweiker worked with the Big Family Press after-school club over 14 sessions. Together, Rosalie and the group of children aged 6-11 from Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, Camberwell, designed, opened and maintained a functioning Post Office.
During Hello Anyone that Receives this Message, the Big Family Press created messenger pigeons, wrote letters to send to teachers, friends, family and strangers, made their own stamps and currency, role-played people waiting in a post office queue, and visited the Peckham Post Office for a group research-trip.
Operating from the SLG’s Fire Station Attic, the commission supported 13 children to send and receive mail, think about what it means to write and share stories and to build a link between the school, the gallery and the neighbourhood. The weekly after-school workshops were built around child-led imaginative play, supporting the children to connect with each other, gain confidence and exercise individual agency in creating and operating the Post Office.
The infrastructure of the post-office builds on the inaugural Big Family Press commission with artist collective OOMK (One of My Kind) and further supports children to share and value their stories and experiences, and to develop a vocabulary around heritage and archival practices using DIY publishing as a methodology. Rosalie Schweiker and the Heritage Education team are currently developing a publication archiving the process of setting up and running a post office with children, to launch in spring 2019.
From September to December 2018, the Big Family Press was: Alice, Ben, Daniel, Dara, Davinia, Elijah, Ethan, Isaiah, Jade, Lacey-Jo, Leon, Luis, Madina, Rahmaa, Reuben, Rosalie and Tilewa.
ABOUT
The Big Family Press is a community printing press developed with children aged 4 – 12 in after-school care at Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, Camberwell. The group meets weekly during term-time and collaborates with artists on a range of creative and critical activities using DIY publishing.
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund