Sybil Phoenix OBE
The exhibition Sowing Roots explores through oral history interviews and photographs, the impact of people of Caribbean descent on gardens in south London.
Ceramic sculpture of a head created by Sybil Phoenix OBE by Sybil Phoenix OBEGarden Museum
Ceramic Head made by Sybil Phoenix OBE
Sybil Phoenix OBE was the first black woman in Britain to receive an MBE in 1973 for her community work in Lewisham. She founded the Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust in 1979 which continues to operate, providing shelter and support for homeless young women.
Sybil Phoenix OBE in her south London garden by Photographer unknown.Garden Museum
Sybil Phoenix OBE
An old family photograph of Sybil Phoenix OBE taken in her garden in south east London with a fig tree behind her. This photograph was chosen by her son for the Garden Museum's tile wall in the museum's Orangery.
Fig tree in garden of Sybil Phoenix OBE (2021-08-03) by Federico RivasGarden Museum
This is the fig tree today - in Sybil Phoenix's garden - photographed by Federico Rivas in August 2021.
View of garden of Sybil Phoenix OBE (2021-08-03) by Federico RivasGarden Museum
She enjoyed growing plants and found gardening relaxing. She created a water feature and added sculptures that she had made out of clay, to the garden. She became involved in community projects in Lewisham, founding a youth club for black teenagers in 1971 called the Moonshot.
Georgetown Gayana by George SilkLIFE Photo Collection
Sybil Phoenix was born in Georgetown, Guyana on 21st June 1927 and came to Britain in 1958 eventually settling in Lewisham in 1963. It was here that she brought up her family and created her garden.
Woodrow Phoenix holding one of his mother's ceramic objects (2021) by Federico Rivas of FotosynthesisGarden Museum
Sybil Phoenix's son Woodrow holds a glazed ceramic dish, resembling a flower, made by his mother. She made her ceramics at her home, inspiring one of her daughters to take up ceramics and study at art school.
Ceramic dish by Sybil Phoenix OBEGarden Museum
A close up of the glazed ceramic dish made by Sybil Phoenix OBE.
Ceramic ornament made by Sybil Phoenix OBE (1988) by Sybil PhoenixGarden Museum
Figure stirring a pot.
In his oral history interview, Woodrow recalled his mother and father cooking Pepperpot stew which was a Guyanese traditional stew. This ceramic figure resembles a woman with her cooking pot, 'pepperpot is a very rich and very slightly sweet tasting stew'.
Ceramic ornament of a woman stirring a pot (1988) by Sybil Phoenix OBEGarden Museum
'And Pepperpot, which is a very distinctive Guyanese thing. It’s basically a stew, it’s made with beef and chicken and pork and sometimes turkey and it’s a very, very thick, very, very dark stew. It’s made with cassareep, which is a Guyanese vegetable.'
Garden ornament of a rabbit made by Sybil Phoenix OBE by Sybil Phoenix OBEGarden Museum
This ceramic rabbit made by Sybil Phoenix OBE is cemented into the ground in the garden.
Ceramic rabbit (c.2019) by Sybil PhoenixGarden Museum
Sybil Phoenix's use of sculptures and ceramics in her garden might have been an influence from growing up in Guyana 'People often do a lot with stones; they decorate their gardens a lot with painted things. It’s something I think you see in other countries around the Caribbean.'
Sculpture of a head in the garden of Sybil Phoenix OBEGarden Museum
For Sybil Phoenix OBE, her garden was 'very much about a place to switch off from everything else'......
'just being in the garden, makes her feel happy'. Quotes from an oral history interview with Woodrow Phoenix 2021.
The Garden Museum's Caribbean Garden Heritage project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is collecting oral history stories from and about gardeners of Caribbean descent for the museum's Archive. Postponed for a year due to the pandemic, over summer 2021, fifteen people of Caribbean descent living in south London, were interviewed and photographs taken of them (or family members) in their gardens. This story focuses on Sybil Phoenix OBE. Photographs taken by Federico Rivas of Fotosynthesis and edited by Ingrid Guyon. Project curators Elizabeth Cooper and Ekua McMorris. Oral Historian Jen Kavanagh. Story author, Janine Nelson Head of Learning. Oral history interviews conducted with help from young people including Lambeth Young Carers. Thank you to Woodrow Phoenix. The exhibition 'Sowing Roots' opens at the Garden Museum on 15th November 2021 and finishes on 20th February 2022. This is the first in a series of stories about Sowing Roots.
