“Boots On The Ground” is a new photographic exhibition in Lambeth Archives. The photographs celebrate 20 years of the St Matthews Project (SMP) football outreach project. SMP has grown from a kickabout in Brockwell Park for kids from the St Matthews Estate – the estate that faces Lambeth Archives’ new home on Brixton Hill.
Artist and curator Ellie Laycock
The collection is curated by Brixton-based artist Ellie Laycock, and will include her acclaimed photographic portraits of St Matthews Under 10’s players. These portraits were previously published in BJP’s Portrait of Britain, exhibited in Lambeth Town Hall and included in the series Spectemur Agendo, which explores a century of leadership in Lambeth. An artist’s book of the series is held in Oxford’s Bodleian library and one copy is buried in the time capsule underneath Lambeth Archives.
Word from the Cabinet
Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said: “We are very pleased to host this exhibition. First, it chronicles the vital role SMP and community football play in regular engagement with Lambeth’s young people every week, including girls’ football, training, mental wellbeing workshops and one-to-one support. It also continues Lambeth’s creative relationship with Ellie Laycock, whose work exploring the themes of the urban environment and its impact on its residents, politics and the passage of time in Brixton have featured in the Town Hall when she was our artist in residence and has been on billboards and galleries in Lambeth.”
Interactive memories
Will you recognise anyone in the photographs? Get involved and record your memories as part of this interactive exhibition and celebration of an incredible local grassroots organisation.
St Matthews Project players in practice goal nets
Exhibition times
- Friday 31 January – Friday 21 February 2025.
- For Lambeth archives opening hours see Lambeth’s website
