A day of celebration and remembrance to mark the 50th year of Rolan Adams and the launch of the Rolan Adams Legacy Archive.  
Hosted by the the Rolan Adams Legacy Foundation and TACO!, this event has been funded by the GLA through the Untold Stories Fund as part of an ongoing artist research project - Action!- by the artist Holly Graham.

The day includes 

• Speeches and Video Messages from Richard Adams, Holly Graham, Rev Al Sharpton, Lee Jasper, The Black Cultural Archives, and others. 

• Music, films, and the presentation of archival material from The Rolan Adams Legacy Archive - a new archive consisting of films, photographs, documents and oral histories documenting the life of Rolan Adams, and the campaign for justice and change that followed his death.  

• Opportunities to share your stories and find out more about the Rolan Adams Legacy Archive and this nationally important piece of social history.  The archive and all contributions will be cared for by the Black Cultural Archives.

• A presentation by artist Holly Graham on the commissioned public artwork Action! . Holly will install series of bronze plaques placed along a 7km anti-racism marching route undertaken by the Rolan Adams Campaign and the wider community from Thamesmead to Welling in 1991.  The project considers how we attended to anti racism, trauma and care, collective memory, and demands for social justice in the public realm.  Holly will be presenting an overview of the project and some of the plaques already made.

• Food and Drink will be available throughout the day. 

If you have information, material or memeories you would like to contribute to the Rolan Adams Legacy Archive please get in touch.

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More about the project

In 1991 a racist gang of young white men murdered black 15 year old Rolan Adams. This event took place within a climate of fear and tension provoked by the BNP. The murder received little media attention at the time. However there was a community led response throughout this period that included a 1500 strong 6 mile walking march on the BNP’s offices in Welling, Bexley. Over the subsequent 2 years there was continued tension, but also strong community action and organising that culminated eventually in the 1993 Welling Riot and the closure of the BNP Offices.

The ACTION! project has been commissioned by TACO!   - It hopes to address this gap in story-telling in the story of place and community and to reflect this in the public realm. Speaking with local people and groups the project collects information and material about how the racism and division at this time was responded to by members of the community. 

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Holly Graham graduated from MA Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 2014. Recent exhibitions and projects include: To Us It Just Looks Like A Lemon: Bothy Residency, Southwark Park Galleries (2019); On Board II, Art Licks & Espacio Vista, Madrid; BOUNDS, Skelf, Online (2019); The Oval Window, Gerald Moore Gallery, London (2019); The Romance of Flowers, Kingsgate Projects, London (2018); Common Third, Copperfield, London (2018); Carefully Cleansed of Labour and Softened by Cooking, Compressor, London (2018); and Sweet Swollen, Jerwood Visual Arts: Project Space, London (2018). Holly is Head of Artist Development at Turf Projects, Croydon, and is Co-Founder of Cypher BILLBOARD, London.

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