Market Faces

I spent three days meeting, chatting about food (and Arsenal) with traders who sell, make and serve food on Chapel Market, and drawing their portraits. Each portrait is drawn on packaging from that trader - not the packaging they give to customers, but the packaging from where they source the food.⁠
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As such the final works show a local trader and (often) global food systems. ⁠
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I've spent my whole life going to Chapel Market - and used to park in the siansburys car park most Friday afternoons after school with my mum and brother to do the weekly shop - so it was wonderful to have a show @whiteconduitprojects_london right on that street!⁠

The show then went on to be shown at the Islington Museum, with Curator Sarah Guzman uncovering wonderful new information about some of the locations on the market that featured in the show.

"No. 76 - Green Valley Grocers

Built in the 1790s, No. 76 was originally used as housing. At the time, Chapel Street ended at No. 91, past which was undeveloped land. Since then, the area has been built up, and very little of the original building remains intact.

In 1890, Sainsbury’s opened a branch at No. 76 - one of four in Chapel Market. This branch remained open until 1965, when a self-service Sainsbury’s opened nearby. From 2020, it has been home to Green Valley Grocers, a branch of the London-based Lebanese and Middle Eastern grocery chain."

It feels like I have only just dipped my toe in with this work and that Chapel Market as a subject for a longer form project could tell stories of food systems past, present and future.