The RCA guide to Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2022

Wandsworth Arts Fringe runs from 10 – 26 June 2022, bringing over 150 cultural events to the borough – spanning art, music, spoken word, theatre, comedy and dance. For the 2022 festival, the Royal College of Art has worked closely with a number of organisations and schools in the Borough of Wandsworth to create opportunities for local residents to engage with the creative arts and design practices fostered at the RCA.

F A S H I O N + J O Y = SHARE & RCA

Royal Academy of Dance | 4–6pm, Friday 17 June | Free to attend – booking required

F A S H I O N + J O Y is a collaborative project between the RCA's MA Fashion Programme and Share Community, a charity based in Clapham Junction that works with adults with disabilities, autism and other learning difficulties.

Supervised by RCA Head of Fashion, Zowie Broach, MA Fashion alumnae Ellen Fowles (2020) and Anne Ferial (2021) – whose work centres around adaptivewear and inclusive design – have led a series of workshops which partnered Share artists and RCA students to design and make hats that reflect each Share artist’s personality and creative preferences.

The collaboration will culminate in a millinery fashion show during WAF, hosted at the Royal Academy of Dance. Challenging perceptions about disability and ableism, the performance will see disabled artists take to the catwalk, expressing themselves while wearing their own creations.

RCA x WAF Creative Bursaries Group Exhibition

Outlined Gallery | 10am – 10pm, various dates | Free to attend – no booking required

The four winners of the RCA and WAF Creative Bursary, which supports local artists and designers aged 16–25 years old, will showcase their work in a group exhibition at Outlined Gallery in Nine Elms throughout WAF 2022.

Sena Appeah, Theo Chaudoir, Louis Morel and Merlin Summers work across different mediums – from painting and illustration to animation and games design – and draw upon their experiences, identities and locality to inform their work.

Each young artist has received mentoring from the RCA community and their work will also be featured and available to buy on Outlined Gallery's website.

Plant Power

Wandsworth Town Hall | 10 – 26 June | Outdoors and free to attend

Using plant life as a way to explore important questions about the environmental crisis, pupils from Wandsworth primary schools have considered their personal relationships with nature through hands-on print workshops.

Led by RCA alumna Ellie Wyatt (MA Print, 2019) with support from fellow Print graduate Xintong Zhang (2021), their workshops have encouraged primary school pupils from across the borough to understand how art can be used to express personal perspectives and spread awareness about important issues like climate change.

Artwork created by the pupils will be on display outside Wandsworth Town Hall on banners for the duration of WAF and at Wandsworth's Civic Suite for the WAF Schools Showcase on Thursday 23 June.

RCA MA Sculpture students display their work in Battersea Park

Battersea Park | 6 June – September | Outdoors and free to attend

Students from the RCA's MA Sculpture programme will display their work in Battersea Park, at the site of the Barbara Hepworth sculpture Single Form Memorial which is on loan during 2022.

Five works, created by five separate groups of six students, will be on display in the park from June to September this year, rotating every few weeks – with the first installation coinciding with Wandsworth Arts Fringe.

A collaboration between the RCA, Wandsworth Borough Council, Enable Leisure and Culture, Friends of Battersea Park and The Battersea Society, you can find out more about the project here.

Climate Rhymes

Various dates and venues | Free to attend – no booking required

Pupils from Wandsworth primary schools have worked with the spoken word artist BREIS and artist and RCA Visual Communication alumna Hannah Coulson to create poetry and visual art that explores important questions about the environmental crisis.

Their work – a mixture of drawings, collage and spoken word responses – will be exhibited in libraries across Wandsworth and performed at the WAF School Showcase on Thursday 23 June. Participating schools include Brandlehow Primary School, Granard Primary School, Griffin Primary School, Smallwood Primary School and Swaffield Primary School.