We have sensed that many things and peoples have been made invisible, ignored, vilified, disrespected, and made other. Colonisers draw borders to control and keep themselves in power. Monuments have been built to celebrate in-humanity, and still stain. Others lay desolate and uncelebrated waiting to be listened to. We have been listening to the Stones of Croydon. They speak to us, and we are starting to be with each other. Leroy Little Bear, Blackfoot elder and educator taught us that the exchange of conversation must be between all the creatures and plants and spirits that connect us to and with the earth. He said, think of their age, the stuff they must know! Yet they are careful about sharing their counsel. Like a stranger, they will not sit down and tell you everything immediately, only when the rocks begin to know you, will they tell their story. The 20 Stones did not tell us their story immediately. We encountered them on our walks through the terrains of South London. Their out-of-placeness first struck as being strange. They had been scarred by a plaque that told us a story of one of their migrations. It said This Stone was placed here in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the formation of the London Borough of Croydon. The stones had other stories to tell. The felt abused, fragmented from each other, and wanted to return to the strata they had be hacked from. They asked us for our help. They became a part of the NDA. They had many strange requests. Some wanted bright pink tutus around their bases, others want wheels and ornate legs to help them escape their imposed stasis. They all want to float, be elevated and be celebrated as themselves and not as markers of the scars that human made borders create. Together we propose to do these things and more.
‘Twenty stones are to be placed in parks and streets across the borough to celebrate Croydon becoming part of London 50 years ago.
Croydon became a London borough on 1 April 1965 by bringing together the old local councils of Croydon and Coulsdon & Purley, both of which were in Surrey. Croydon Council is marking the anniversary with 20 large stones representing the borough’s original 20 local wards.
The stones, originally purchased from the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund, and initially placed in New Addington, are all unique and a fitting tribute to mark the Borough’s 20 original wards.
Nomadic Detective Agency 