Wallpaper design - Hop-Picking Memories
Object
Printed Ephemera
Production date
2020
Object number
2022.68
Physical Description
Sample of a wallpaper design by artist Angela Groundwater. Beige background with repeated design of green and brown details illustrating scenes of hop-picking.
Object history
In early 2020 the Hackney Brocals were working with artist Angela Groundwater on a piece with them about their struggles with isolation and loneliness and the steps they were taking to combat it.
The introduction of a national lockdown in response to the Coronavirus pandemic created an unprecedented threat of loneliness as the bros stayed at home alone. Throughout the rest of 2020 the men shared their personal stories of lockdown with Angela and one another over Zoom, asking: What had they been doing? How had they been coping?
The results are these custom-made wallpaper designs that weave together the men’s memories, histories and treasured possessions, to create a portrait of a year unlike any other.
The introduction of a national lockdown in response to the Coronavirus pandemic created an unprecedented threat of loneliness as the bros stayed at home alone. Throughout the rest of 2020 the men shared their personal stories of lockdown with Angela and one another over Zoom, asking: What had they been doing? How had they been coping?
The results are these custom-made wallpaper designs that weave together the men’s memories, histories and treasured possessions, to create a portrait of a year unlike any other.
Associated Event
Associated Organisation
Associated Person
Groundwater, Angela (Artist)
Material
Paper-based
Dimension
Height: 830mm
Width: 587mm
Width: 587mm
Exhibition Label
From the exhibition 'Out of the Mancave' 18 May 2021 – 5 February 2022
Hop-picking Memories
The worst thing about this lockdown is that I haven’t been able to drive out to the hop fields down in Kent. Normally I drive down every Tuesday and look around.
When I was seven I started picking hops with my parents every summer. It’s a different world down there. Fresh air. Country life.
My cousins all lived there. My dad was from a big family with 13 brothers and sisters. We all had family bins to put the picked hops in.
Once when I was a boy, my mum and dad went back to London and got stuck there. I was managing the hops on my own. It was a bit frightening, to begin with...
I think back to those times whenever I see green. If you put the hops under the pillow you sleep well. It makes your fingers go green and smell of beer.
John Payne, 68
Hop-picking Memories
The worst thing about this lockdown is that I haven’t been able to drive out to the hop fields down in Kent. Normally I drive down every Tuesday and look around.
When I was seven I started picking hops with my parents every summer. It’s a different world down there. Fresh air. Country life.
My cousins all lived there. My dad was from a big family with 13 brothers and sisters. We all had family bins to put the picked hops in.
Once when I was a boy, my mum and dad went back to London and got stuck there. I was managing the hops on my own. It was a bit frightening, to begin with...
I think back to those times whenever I see green. If you put the hops under the pillow you sleep well. It makes your fingers go green and smell of beer.
John Payne, 68
On display?
No
