OUR PLACE IN TIME
​Our Place in Time was a very successful arts, media, and heritage project which we launched in 2021, with Suffolk Archives and the Heads of Art at several local schools. Post-Lockdown, it engaged over 200 art students, from 8 schools, in the creation of 3 large-scale, civic wallhangings for Ipswich, in commemoration of the Late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. Collectively, the wallhangings record what life was like for young people, during the momentous years of 2021 to 2023 and together they have become a lasting, artistic legacy for Ipswich, made by its teenagers.
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Each hanging was individually displayed at The Hold during the lifespan of the project. Over 100,000 people saw them, including the High Sheriff of Suffolk and the Mayors of Ipswich, who helped us to unveil each one, for the public to view.
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Because they are twelve feet long, each wallhanging has to be printed onto cloth with a road roller and the public were invited every year to watch us ink up and print each of the wallhangings, on the waterfront in Ipswich, as part of Ipswich PrintWeek .
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​We are delighted that the very last of the three Our Place in Time wallhangings, which was made by 70 students aged from 13 to 18 years, studying art in 2024, at Suffolk New College, Claydon High School, St Albans Catholic High School and the National Saturday Art Club in Ipswich, was added to the permanent, public records collection, kept by Suffolk Archives, in August 2024.
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It is incredible that the last wallhanging, which looks at life through the eyes of young people in 2023, saw Prince Charles crowned as King Charles III, providing a fitting end to a project that began as a tribute to the long reign of his mother, and which has captured for posterity not just the Jubilee celebrations but also her funeral, along with many other events that occurred during the lifespan of the project, that our students wished to reflect on.
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Students also made videos, took photos and broadcast radio recordings made about the project. These will be kept with the wallhangings, demonstrating the mix of old and new communication technologies used by Our Place in Time students to tell their stories in the twenty-first century, and record their own Place in Time, for future generations to enjoy.
We would like to thank all the funders who have supported us over the three years of this project, but special thanks
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go in this last year to the following, Suffolk County Council, Oyster Community Press CIC and Taydal Surfacing, who printed all of the wallhangings for us with a 2 ton road roller!