Reflection (Lambeth Walk)

Description of my sigil

Lambeth Walk is a walk, a song, a dance, two films, a photograph, a market and a street in Kennington, London. The name is made popular by an eponymous musical tune in 1937, performed with “show-stopping Cockney-inspired extravaganza” dance moves. In 1942 the song was appropriated to make a short propaganda film to ridicule Nazis. Now the Lambeth Walk is a quiet residential street (public housing) with a few local shops, including a self-serve launderette good for eavesdropping.

The sigil represents the outline of the walk, walking legs, a musical note, and a person’s singing chin.

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Reflection!

I liked how spontaneous I was for this design. I am quite prone to over-planning, but after tracing the outline of Lambeth walk (and its neighbouring streets, such as the twisty China Walk) I have already found the image to be quite symbolic. I thickened horizontal lines so the line resembles a pair of walking legs. Only after scanning it do I realize the sigil also resembles a twisty musical note, which resembles Lambeth Walk as a musical song. To me the twisty lines also resemble the lower part of a person's face, as if someone is playing golf with their mouth. It could also mean the person is saying something as represented by the downward line. I am quite satisfied with this outcome which I produced quickly.

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Research and experimentation methods

I have documented my visit in various ways:

- markmaking (rubbings, making textures) (whilst listening to sounds of Lambeth Walk)

- counting number of steps I took + a walking map

- graphs (my mood, the correlation between walking speed and weight of carryied objects of pedestrians)

- Audio recording

- videos

- collecting ephemera/ trash from the ground

- eavesdropping/ recording the happenings in one setting, i.e. the launderette

- made a script of said recording

- eaten in a shop and recorded the experience

- edited photos I took to duo-tone and collaged them with my other research

What I can do next:

- talk to people more: interview the launderette owner?

- display work on Lambeth walk and observe people's reaction (social experiment)