I was told
2009
In April I presented a video resulting from a two month residency in an warehouse in a business estate in Southall in the suburb of London.
Working with a split screen I edited several sequences of images filmed in different locations, and added subtitles – each sentence started with the words ‘I was told’ and refered to historical facts, political issues, personal stories as well as other artwoks made for the show by other artists. They were all stories recounted by people I met while being there.
Transcript:
- A worker at Southall station told me some trains go through at 125 mph. He said twice or thrice a year someone commits suicide there. Once he saw a woman standing on the track facing a train, he didn’t manage to help her. It hasn’t happened for a while.
- A young Sikh told me for Vaisakhi everybody contributes and it is all about good deeds. He had to start cooking at 4 am.
- The owner of the Ivo Textiles printing shop next to the gallery told me they are making some fabric for Vivienne Westwood.
- A journalist at Ealing Gazette told me an airport cleaner was sacked from her job for taking 2 baby wipes, a bottle of water a pair of child’s sunglasses and a Mc Donald’s toy she collecting while vacuuming a plane.
- A man by the canal told me he was going to sit somewhere else because some teenagers were threatening to attack him and they had a boat.
- The owner of J&J Wines told me I was offending his customers with my camera and I had to leave.
- The receptionist at the Bair Peach School told me they haden’t planned anything for the 30th anniversary of his murder by the police during the Southall riots.
- The security guards told me Busta Bloodvessel from Bad Manners lives on a houseboat on the canal.
- The Black Sisters who help women who suffer abuse told me they didn’t have time to speak to me and I should email.
