A council tenant’s anti-gentrification exhibition in her soon-to-be-destroyed Aylesbury Estate flat begins this Friday.
Aysen Dennis, 64, who refuses to leave her beloved estate, thirteen years after its demolition began, has invited people to the ‘Fight 4 Aylesbury’ exhibition, beginning at 4pm on Friday, April 14.
Held at her flat in the Wendover block, it will feature photos, collages, mementos and audio-recordings documenting her long struggle against redevelopment.
To find the exhibition, enter Wendover House, Thurlow Street, SE17 2UR, into your online maps app and follow the arrows. Call 07476532632 if you get lost.
When are you coming to see us on Aylesbury Estate to find out about housing struggles to defend our communities from social cleansing and gentrification?
It's an open house 14-23 April! All welcome, free, bring kids. pic.twitter.com/kFBCDnPazy
— Fight4Aylesbury (@Aylesbury_exhib) April 9, 2023
From April 14 to 23, there is a packed programme of historical talks, guided walks and poetry workshops, which can be viewed on the @Fight4Aylesbury Instagram account.
Aysen said: “It’s going to be a one-of-a-kind exhibition which is showing off the fight that we’ve been going through.
“There will be leaflets, pictures – we’ve got lot os of documents and information that we are using. It’s telling our story… reflecting the councillors’ and campaigners’ story, it’s our perspective.”
Aysen, who moved into the flat in May 1993, and has long campaigned for refurbishment over redevelopment.
The 2,758-flat Aylesbury Estate was completed in 1977 as part of a huge slum clearance but less than thirty years later, in 2005, Southwark Council decided to demolish it.
The council argued redevelopment was the only viable option and that refurbishment would be too expensive.