Fiction

A collection of videos with fictional narratives that were often devised or written by marginalised groups, as part of a wider localised theatre and arts scene. The groups include Albany Youth Theatre, Common Stock Youth Theatre, Second Wave Young Women's Group, Half Moon Theatre Company, Bedworth Video Group, Terry Flaxton/Triple Vision and the IEC. Fiction was often used as an expression of the difficulties of daily working class life and current issues, such as domestic scenes, women's oppression, racism, and workers' strikes or to challenge the issues of representation within the documentary form. Through creativity and art, many localised communities were able to platform and celebrate there stories, such as the Basement Project, which fought back against the marginalisation of local art by producing the Tower Hamlets Arts Project Big Show at Whitechapel Gallery and the radical theatre of youth rebellion at Half Moon Theatre. Featured videos include Dead Proud (1988), Trapped: Elisabeth & Leo (1970), Us Girls (1979), Familiar Feelings (1982), A Netful of Holes (1981) and Our Lives (1990).