In opposition, artists Peter Dunn and Loraine Leeson, in the Docklands Community Poster Project, aimed to create visibility for local narratives and histories which were under threat of obliteration by the behemoth of Canary Wharf – then under construction, in the 1980s -and all it represented. They write:
In opposition to the seemingly viral-like spread of corporate culture the importance of local narratives has become ever more critical . Local narratives [are] not just defined by geography but as the specificity of what it is like to be working class in this society, to be a woman, to be black, to be gay, to be differently abled.
The claim to specificity recurs in today’s art-activism, as I discuss below. It is not a claim to authenticity in the mode of cultural tourism, but a demand for voice and recognition.
The ONLY map on this article that shows any rails is so pixelled you can’t even read it… all the others don’t show anything besides Tel Aviv the way we know it without any trains.