Started January 2010 [by Jack Thurgar]

This is a scrapbook dedicated to the study of London's weeds and the wild places where they grow. Wildcornerz also looks at the languages, cultures and mythologies that develop in these cracks.


What is a Wildcorner?

A Wildcorner is a term referring to a piece of land that has been left to grow wild in a man made landscape. To be a true Wildcorner, the land has to be restricted from public access. Many are hidden from public view altogether. A common type of wildcorner is referred to by govements and local authorities as a 'brownfield site'.

Wildcorners and corridors* are dotted all over the capital and vary in content, depending on their location and history. In this blog we focus particularly on the Wildcorners of south east London.

* Wildcorridors are networks of pathways that run through the city and facilitate the propagation and growth of weeds. Many are restricted from public access such as railway embankments and urban rivers. In the suburbs, footpaths such as the Green Chain connect public green areas by a network of alleyways and passages that skirt between houses and private land. It could be argued that these are also wild corridors.



Urban and Suburban Weeds

By the term 'weeds' we are of course referring to the cities wild plants and flowers. But their are also two other weeds that grow in the city.

'Graf' like its botanical relation, has many families and strains. Both of these weeds can often be found together, sharing many qualities including their adaptive nature and unregulated status. Both in many cases, originally entered and populated the city using the railway network.

Another 'weed' that historically flourishes in London is invisible and uses the tops of tower blocks to propagate. Pirate radio like its weed relatives, grows away from the public eye and is constantly adapting to exploit these same gaps across the cities FM radio spectrum, fighting and flourishing in-between the commercial stations.

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Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Diabolical Dub Stars



Here is a sample clip from the forthcoming documentary 'Underbelly'.

It is created from exclusive original footage filmed by the current members of  DDS. They filmed themselves over the last five years, breaking into yards and bombing London's tube trains. Where as some crews are in every graff video on youtube, DDS have kept their video tapes under secret lock and key and it has become the subject of many chinese whispers.
 DDS are a legendary crew and are the undisputed kings of London train graff. They have been active for the last 20 years. The crew includes such notorious names as FUEL, TEACH, SUB ONE, ZOMBY, PRIME and FUME.
 They are credited for keeping london tube bombing alive during the dark years of the late 90's, adapting to new tighter security measures and utilising new technology to carry out there missions.
It's made by the guy who directed 'Taking Liberties;' a doc about the decline of civil liberties in the UK.




2 comments:

  1. Nice. But better if they were *all* as talented as the old guy. Self-expression by the mediocre is better off not exposed to public gaze.

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  2. When ya backs against the wall turn around and write onit. Word hard and consider ya skills coz it aint like know one else eva will...

    ReplyDelete