In New Stories from the Tabernacle, I explore the value of community by presenting a new archive constructed from my experience as a waitress in the The Tabernacle.
Tabernacle is a historic community and Art centre / Bar restaurant, situated on the famous Powis Square in Notting Hill London. Located in a former church from the 19th century, the building holds in a rich and tumultuous story of community activism. Today the centre is still alive and gathers a large and diverse community from artists, locals who grew up in the neighborhood, high class Notting Hill families, AA member, Mangrove steel band resident...
I used my time working as a waitress to observe this rich community and used the building as a artist residency to think and construct the project.
The work engages with a different form of documentary including ideas of collection and archives. I started collecting kitchen and bar tickets from a selection of usual customers, the ones that have particular habits, repetitive requests, same manners, all those people that create this special environment in Tabernacle. The final series gathers the re-photographed papers edited with text, as well as portraits of the waitressing staff and extracted conversation with customers .
The series is very personal and dear to my heart. Not only because it deals with a place I relate very much to, but also because creating an art piece from the point of vu of a waitress transposes suddenly the objects into subjects: The customer becomes the matter as well as the waitress. News Stories from the Tabernacle is also about treating New perspective, it is about communication and human relationship.
The series is part of a bigger project shown in a group exhibition constructed with the artists Emma Mugdway , which was held inside Tabernacle Art gallery in May 2015
©Alexia Villard 2015
