Exploring community, storytelling and technology in new artworks by Tadhg Charles and residents from London Borough of Redbridge
The audience at last Saturday’s exhibition launch of ‘Ley Lines’ at SPACE Ilford were invited to engage with the exhibition through sensory play (as they will be encouraged to do so for the remainder of the exhibition on until June 2026) by moving around, engaging and interacting with the 3-D printed and scanned exhibition artworks created by local residents during a series of six-week long community art workshops which were held earlier last year at the gallery by Artist, Tadhg Charles

Accessible alt text: Two figures are stood in front of a colourful square artwork on a white wall. One of the figures is pointing directly at the colourful artwork which is made up of a combination of lots scans, drawings, maps and other imagery about Redbridge which was generated during the workshops by local residents with this final artwork edited, collaged and curated by Tadhg Charles. Image credit, Alicja Jedryka at SPACE Ilford
The project displays 3-D printed items and scans of found and local objects chosen by community members. The exhibition curation and layout has been created especially for and with accessibility in mind and features different tactile artworks at various heights for children, young people and those without abled privilege to be able to touch, feel and engage with.
“The way that all of our exhibition artworks have been displayed is really unique — some are wall-mounted, some are table-mounted, and some have been placed directly on the floor. It’s a very creative way of displaying all of our artworks for everyone to enjoy which I really appreciate.”
– Ganesh Gaikwad, community artist and workshop participant

Working with local participants, the project combined personal storytelling with digital tools such as 3D scanning, photogrammetry and sound recording. Participants were invited to write from the perspective of everyday objects, capture ambient sounds of familiar places, create digital replicas of personal artefacts, and reimagine the London Borough of Redbridge through both physical and digital forms. Together, these activities built a shared creative archive of memory and belonging.

“I’ve really tried to think of this as a real community arts exhibition down to the audience viewing the exhibition themselves so in the installation set up I’ve thought about everyone from having things that small children and people using wheelchairs can engage with right up to elderly people and everyone in-between. There is something here for people that have never visited an exhibition before through to those used to going to galleries – I want this exhibition to be tactile and accessible for everyone.”
– Tadhg Charles

Accessible alt text: A family of two adult figures, a man and a woman and two children , a boy and a girl are stood in front of four, square, 3-D printed, white, artwork tiles which are placed in a random order on the grey, gallery wall. These artwork tiles are part of a group artwork called ‘All These Things’ and show different 3-D printed objects, chosen by local residents during the exhibition workshops. One off the smaller children is also leaning on a plinth which has a brown 3-D artwork displayed on top. Image credit, Alicja Jedryka at SPACE Ilford
The approach was shaped by several guiding ideas such as Participatory Action Research (PAR) to ensure that participants were not just subjects of the study but co-creators of the work. Practice-Based Research recognises making and experimenting as forms of knowledge in their own right.

Drawing on Georges Perec’s* notion of the infraordinary, the project focused on small, everyday details from a local roundabout to a broken peg as carriers of cultural memory. Ideas from critical digital heritage encouraged participants to reflect on what is gained and lost when stories are digitised, while object biography framed artefacts as witnesses to lived experience.

“The entire exhibition is about Redbridge – how recognisable the area will be to people who visit the exhibition is a different question but part of what makes the exhibition so interesting.

We’ve taken super ordinary objects – someone brought in photos of their favourite coffee cup from a local coffee shop or a photo of their garden and we’d explore how to portray those through 3-D Printing for example. It’s about playing with very, very mundane things, used and experienced everyday and thinking about how that can tell a story about a person, a place and a community.

“A big question for me during the workshops and the exhibition installation was – what aspects of this exhibition can be shared? So we have a large amount of stuff in our exhibition which is tactile and can be touched. People attending will be invited to re-arrange the works and move things around and put their own stamp on the space – as a way of placing participants at the centre and increasing sharing.”
– Tadhg Charles