Chelsea Fringe comes to Crossbones
Urban Flora Trail - Crossbones Graveyard Chelsea Fringe event
12-2pm
Sat 27th January
As part of this years’ Chelsea Fringe, we're inviting the public to take a self-guided garden trail around Crossbones Graveyard. See what you can find growing and hear more about the garden’s history from our Crossbones volunteer wardens. Crossbones is an urban walled green haven cared for by Bankside Open Spaces Trust and our volunteers. It features a mix of self-seeded and cultivated plants.
This event can be enjoyed by all and is suitable for children. No need to book.
What is Chelsea Fringe?
Chelsea Fringe is a garden festival in London which is run in parallel with the Chelsea Flower Show. The fringe took its inspiration form Edinburgh Fringe Festival - it operates with the blessing of the Royal Horticultural Society, organisers of Chelsea Flower Show. But it is entirely independent! Events run as part of the fringe are created by charities, volunteers and organisations all over the UK, and further afield! We are proud to be running two events this year - the Urban Flora Trail at Crossbones and A Handful of Herbs at Tate Community Community Garden.
And on the same day you can catch:
"Playing Alone with a Fox Inside a Cocoon: 繭の中で狐と二人遊び"
A performance by Todome da Fox (Noe Iwai,)
12-2 pm, Sat 27th May
Words from the artist - Todome da Fox - below:
"In Japan, for a long time people have used Buddhist ceremonies called a Water Child Memorial Service, or Mizuko Kuyo (水子供養) to pray for the unborn.
"The Mizuko Jizo (water child statue) is a Jizo (statue) that teaches us the importance and preciousness of life as well as the awareness of a life that could not be born.
"These also stand to recognise the grief and the loss of those who did not meet the life they formed. Since I was a small child, I visited the graves with my family and paternal relatives every summer during the Obon Festival (Obon - お盆) and New Year holidays.
"There is a Mizuko Jizo grave next to the graves of my ancestors in Hiroshima. Compared to the UK, whilst Japanese culture takes great lengths to remember unborn lives - it lags behind culturally when speaking openly about reproductive rights. For example. it’s not commonplace to speak and educate minors about contraception and safe sex. Unborn lives are greatly memorialized, but there is still a lack of commitment to protecting the welfare of women's bodies in society.
"My mother once told me I had a twin brother when I was a child, so I have lived my life with the thought that I am living it for both of us. This performance will explore the duality of our existence, the act of remembering a life that is left to begin - and the thorny history of women's bodies and reproductive rights.
"In my performance work, I often draw from Japanese mythology and kabuki theater - which typically excludes women from the practice. Through this work, I’d like to offer a feminist exploration of grief and memory that exists within the complex culture of Japanese tradition."