“I dance in sites/landscapes to raise awareness of issues”

On By Anita In-Deptford

This text was written by Manuela Benini after she performed at the Tidemill Garden Eviction one year ago today. Photographs taken by Anita Strasser.

07XX Manuela Benini's Red Dress Performance during the Tidemill Eviction 29 October 2018. Photo Anita Strasser (1b)

My name is Manuela Benini and I have lived in south London for more than 24 years, so I consider myself a Londoner who was born in Brazil.

I have a life-long performance art project called “the red dress project”. As part of this ongoing series of outdoor interventions all over the world, I dance in sites/landscapes to raise awareness of issues that I believe are important to myself and communities in the places I live and perform.

I have lived in Lewisham for 8 years and have many friends who live in Deptford. I’m currently an MFA (Master’s of Fine Art) student that studies in Deptford at Trinity Laban. When I found out about the Save Reginald Save Tidemill campaign I felt not only the sadness of the idea of losing Tidemill Garden – what I considered a gem of a place in the middle of the city, an oasis of wildlife, different people and a place where I could just be –  but I also felt I wanted to support the campaign in whatever way I could. So I danced.

07XX Manuela Benini's Red Dress Performance during the Tidemill Eviction 29 October 2018. Photo Anita Strasser (6)

I feel the loss of a true community garden was a massive oversight by Lewisham authorities in the name of affordable housing, that we all know is only affordable for those who are in secure well-paid contracts, which is not the reality for a vast number of us Londoners. This is affordable housing for whom?

So my question is: How can the loss of a public space like Tidemill Garden, where a truly mixed Deptford crowd was represented, where trees and wildlife thrived, where the air was cleaner in a very polluted area, be justified for “affordable housing”? Who are the winners in this terrible loss of public green space?

We can’t change the fact that London is a growing city and affordable housing is a serious issue that many of us Londoners face. So the development of Deptford is a welcome initiative in my opinion, as long as it is developing opportunities for the community as a whole: building new schools, places where young people feel they belong to, activities for the elderly and people with different learning and physical abilities where they can thrive AND keeping green public areas. Pollution is a big challenge this city is facing and the loss of green spaces in the light of a climate emergency should NOT be allowed under any circumstance.