E&C of the past

A dictionary definition of 'Intervene/Intervention'.....

"to occur or come between; to occur between two events, etc; to come in to modify, settle, or hinder some action, etc."

A Definition of 'Art Intervention'....

"An art intervention is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience or venue/space. It has the auspice of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada movement and Neo-Dadaists. It has also been made much use of by the Stuckists to affect perceptions of other artwork which they oppose, and as a protest against an existing intervention." taken from wikipedia.org

I've been looking at representations of Elephant & Castle from Victorian sketches to photographs of the local populace taking refuge in the tube station during the blitz.

During the second world war the area suffered extensive bombing damage. During the 1950's onwards up to the completion of the Heygate estate in the 1970's, E&C underwent a similar regeneration program that the powers-that-be plan for the area today.

Why I am looking at the past? Mainly due to the fact that my paternal family history stems from this very region. I take a keen interest in linking past buildings to stories that my father, grandmother and grandfather spoke of when I was a child. This is a kind of interaction between past and present, as I said earlier I am creating a link. I am not from this area. I was born in Buckinghamshire, always moving around greater London, but never living within it (until a few years ago). So this area seems familiar but strange and new at the same time. An interesting perspective perhaps?

Walking around the area, looking at the architecture... (call this sentimental trash if you will, I might actually be inclined to agree with you) I cannot help but think "my father must have played here as a boy" or "my grandmother must have walked down here" and wonder if they looked at the same building/path/road. Did they look but ever really see or notice? What did they think of it? Did they stand there and think the same as I am now albeit 50 years apart? I ask these questions but I know the answer. They (my paternal family) eventually left the area moving to Buckinghamshire in 1956 because of the crime (so they said). But I wonder, how many other families took the same path that my family did. Why did they leave? What did they think? Do people now have the same reasons and opinions that people had in the past? Do those opinions hold true to this very day?

If people hold the same views as they did then, what does that mean for Elephant and Castle? Does this much needed regeneration program have the ability to change the popular negative public opinion of the place (a large generalisation I am aware of)? Will the people who will live in E&C in ten, twenty, thirty years (when the novelty of the regeneration has worn off) view E&C the same way that many do now?

Elephant & Castle - where has it been? Where is it now and where is it going?

web address of E&C regeneration -

www.elephantandcastle.org.uk