Kinetika: Barking and Dagenham

Building on 2017’s Silk River legacy, which connected communities along the lower Thames Estuary, Kinetika, led by lead artist Ali Pretty, continued to work with Silk River artists from five communities – Barking & Dagenham, Dartford, Purfleet, Gravesham and Southend – to create five silk batik banners, one for each community. The artists drew up a longlist of inspirational local women, past, present and future, either working in their communities or in the public eye across a range of professions. The public were invited to vote on social media to select the women who would be represented on the final banners.

The inspirational women who appear on the five banners encompass a huge range of experiences, occupations, backgrounds and talents, ranging from a nineteenth century physical-education-for-women champion to a 16-year-old Youth Mayor.

Kinetika is a women-led company specialising in high quality community projects. Through a variety of workshops and programmes Kinetika aims to nurture new artistic talent and engage communities, raising aspirations and building a sense of place.

Barking and Dagenham:

The artists worked with residents to select the following inspirational women for this banner:

The Dagenham Ford Strikers were local women who made history in 1968 by changing the way women were paid. They encouraged the government to establish the Equal Pay Act, paving the way for others to do the same and championed the emerging Women’s Movement during the late sixties and seventies.

Mo Obadina was born in Nigeria, lives in Barking & Dagenham and has studied to PhD level whilst working and raising a family as a single mother. She has written a book to encourage others, is a positive role model, gives talks and works to unite communities and engage people in cultural activities. Mo now lectures at the South Bank University.

Rachel Stubbs is 18 and has just completed her first year at UCA studying Film Production. She started there a year earlier than her peers after achieving high grades in her BTEC, despite having dyslexia and dyspraxia. Rachel is a proactive member of her community and has taken part at various local events and community projects. She would like to follow her degree with a career in film, possibly at the new studios opening in Dagenham.

“It was an empowering process, to bring so many local women artists together, and collectively discover the powerful line of Estuary women we come from, and simultaneously to look towards the younger generation who are making the most of the opportunities living and working along The Thames Creative Corridor offers to them.”
Kinetika’s Creative Director, Ali Pretty.

Kinetika is a women-led company specialising in high quality community projects. Through a variety of workshops and programmes Kinetika aims to nurture new artistic talent and engage communities, raising aspirations and building a sense of place.