First World War: Then and Now
The project was inspired by a single photograph taken in Peckham in the spring of 1915. It showed 100 horses destined for the Western Front that were moved to Lyndhurst Road when an infection broke out at the Peckham barracks.
The project recreated the photograph in partnership with local residents, community groups, schools and the horses and soldiers from the Household Cavalry.
Local schoolchildren participated in research workshops as part of their First World War Special Edition Arts Award. For the recreation of the photograph they dressed in period costumes and posed in the street, representing the children in the original scene.
The original and the new photos were displayed together at local venues, accompanied by a painting by local artist Mark Pearson, who created his own interpretation of the images.
The project leaders were conscious that SE15 had changed considerably in the past 100 years, welcoming a significant African and Afro-Caribbean population. They involved the historian Stephen Bourne, who gave a workshop about the black experience of the war and the project delivered school workshops about the British Indian Army.