Cressingham art auction to fund new legal bid to stop demolition

Cressingham Gardens from Brockwell Park

Photographic artist Mark Aitken is auctioning prints of his acclaimed images of residents of the Cressingham Gardens estate to help fund court action to stop its planned demolition.

They are two exhibition prints from his award-winning Sanctum Ephemeral series, which is still to be seen on walls of the estate where Mark lives.

Lambeth council and its wholly owned Homes for Lambeth commercial housing company plan to demolish and redevelop the low-rise estate that overlooks Brockwell Park from Tulse Hill.

Residents continue to campaign against the plans

giant outdoor image with artist
Mark with Helen Carr, one of the nine subjects in the exhibition at Cressingham Gardens

Sanctum Ephemeral, an award-winning Arts Council of England project, is a photo series, installation and book featuring Cressingham Gardens residents.

“The photos are an exploration of how home as a repository of memory defines identity. We define our homes. Our homes define us,” says Mark.

Sanctum Ephemeral was a finalist in Portrait of Britain 2017 and won the national Open Art Prize 2017. It has been as exhibited in several galleries, attracting nationwide publicity.

Protest march
Cressingham Gardens residents protest in 2017

All money raised from the auctions will go towards funding a new judicial review challenging the council’s demolition proposals.

The ex-exhibition prints are on fine Hahnemühle photo rag paper and are 75 x 99 centimetres.

Details of the series can be seen online.

Auction for print 1

Auction for print 2