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.

© Copyright of Wildcornerz. All rights reserved. For enquiries please contact: wildcornerz1@yahoo.co.uk

Tuesday, 11 October 2022

Wild Cornerz Show this week in Peckham

 Im showing my new video 'The Swamp' this week as part of a group show named after this very blog. The video is the first of a new series made of footage filmed at the infamous swamp over the last 20 years. Accompanying the video I am showing my shrine to the Swamp [pictured below]. 

Im exhibiting alongside three other local artists; Andrew Finch, Tobias and Ed Carter who's work also explores wildness in someway. 

Heres a small feature about the show on Radical Art Review: https://www.radicalartreview.org/post/floods-riots-and-pirate-radio-exploring-lewisham-s-forgotten-corners

A Shrine to the Swamp 

Still from 'The Swamp' by Jack Thurgar

Wild Cornerz is showing at Satterlite Store, Holdrons Arcade, Peckham [Thurs 13th - Saturday 15th Oct].

Andrew is screening his film 'The Love Below' Featuring myself and Ed Carter in the river Quaggy, on the closing night at 6pm.

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