The Miracle on George Green

The Miracle on George Green, 2022

Cassette tape

11 x 7 x 2cm

5 minutes, 33 seconds

Side 1:

1. Sad Christmas Tree

2. We Came from the City

3. Digging all day

Side 2:

1. Guilty as Charged

2. Wade in the Water

3. The Digger’s Song

The Miracle on George Green explores the UK’s tradition of the common – spaces collectively owned and utilised for community engagement, gathering, playing and debating. The tape includes 6 songs from the film which revolves around the George Green treehouse in East London, symbolising a collective memory of resistance and community. The songs featured on tape are communal songs collected from the artist’s research, some from the original road protests, some from summer camps like Camp Woodland in which they were sung to Igwe.

During the early 1990s, the 250 year old sweet chestnut tree faced destruction, sparking a global letter-writing campaign to save it. The campaign drew masses nation-wide to join local Wantstead groups in their fight to preserve the tree and the area’s landscape. From this story, Igwe expands the film to include her own recollections of protests and archival materials from various social collective sites such as: the 17th century Diggers, radical summer camps in Upstate New York in the 1930s and 40s, Greenham Common’s anti-war protest in the 1980s, squatting communities in the 1990s and the outdoor raves of the 2000s.