H! Street is a shop-window exhibition project connecting 10 young black artists of the “Be Seen Be Heard” collective with 10 black owned businesses on the high street of New Cross, London to support the revitalisation of the high street whilst providing opportunity and exposure to the young artists.

Visible 24/7 for the whole month of March 2022.
Coordinated by Jada Perry

Part of We Are Lewisham 2022

Supported by:

1.
Artist: Alexander Adegbite
Title: Chic Djarabi La
Shop: Chic Djarabi La, 152 New Cross Road, SE14 5AR

‘Chic Djarabi La’ is a combination of the French word, connoting stylish elegance, and the Mandingo word connoting love. The poster is supposed to bring about a certain feeling of joy and elegance, with the swirling Ankara threads, the dancing figures inspired by West African art.

Alexander Adegbite is a Nigerian mixed artist based in South London, who works primarily with digital art. He likes to use bold, saturated colours and enjoys painting characters and concepts. 

 2.
Artist: Kai Christodoulou Lee
Title:  
Shop: Smokey Jerkey, 158 New Cross Road, SE14 5BA  

Smokey Jerkey is a Jamaican style restaurant, which serves the local community with its mouth watering secrets. Guarded by the shop founder, these tasty secrets have kept Smokey Jerky thriving for the past 40 years, solidifying its position as a corner stone of the local community.
The goal for this poster is to help appeal to a young target audience of those 16-21, to help build a broad and diverse customer base custom base which is key for growth and the future of small local businesses.

Working on community projects has always been Kai’s passion. Using skills in photography, teaching, media and digital design, he’s been helping community organisations achieve their goals since he was a child. 
 

 3.
Artist: Khadija Harris
Title: New Cross Culture
Shop: Barbershop, 162 New Cross Road, SE14 5AA

I had the chance to meet with one of the owners of ‘Akins Barbers’, a black-owned barbershop located on New Cross High Street. Our meaningful conversation allowed me to understand the beauty of barbershops within our multicultural local area, and what it means for the customers as well as the barbers themselves. 

Barbershops are a huge part of London’s culture; for many black people, hairstyle is associated with their culture and identity, allowing each individual to express themself with just the hair on their head. Barbers do more than just ‘cut the hair’ – they support this self-expression, providing a sense of unity between the customer and the barber.

 4.
Artist: Savanah Thorpe
Title: One Stop 
Shop: Vanity Hair and Beauty Studio, 175 New Cross Rd, SE14 5DG

The artwork’s vision stemmed from the owner’s love of doing people’s hair. Paula’s business rooted from love of hair and developed into a business that incorporated many more beauty treatments.

Savanah is a 19 year old, aspiring Graphic Designer who currently studies graphic design in university and has studied Interactive Digital Design in 6th form. She is currently highly interested in brand & album design.

 5.
Artist: Harmony Latinwo 
Title: Alcinda’s Hair Shop 
Shop: Cinda’s Hair Studio, 262 New Cross Road, SE14 5PL

The poster I have illustrated depicts previous hair styles and makeup that Alcinda showed me when I asked about her shop and what she has worked on. I wanted to display her hairdressing and makeup direction in an impactful- but pleasing way so that passers by would be intrigued. I also included Alcinda as the central focal point of the poster since it’s her shop and her work! Her hairstyles and creative direction stem from her and are available to anyone who enters.

Harmony is a digital artist specialising in character design and illustration. In her art she always likes to communicate an idea or message to the viewer, whether that be through composition or the themes she choses to include in her art.

Michael is a graphic designer that likes music, logo branding, typography, and graphical-abstract design. Throughout his years of studying Fine Art and Graphic Communication, he believes that my areas of interest lie in a geometric form, but he’s open to learn and expand on new skills that provide.

 6.
Artist: Michael Williams (NerdyBoyMike)
Title: Professionalism Is Key, Home Is Love
Shop: Dry Cleaning Point, 266 New Cross Road, SE14 5PL

I visited the store to know what Julian preferred in the poster. When we spoke, he mentioned that he is from Ivory Coast and what made him became a shop owner of the new business. He asked to use some of the colours that resemble his logo while having the slogan saying, “Perfection Is Key.” I researched his cultural background and the area, which is surrounded with old brick houses. With the brick pattern layout combining with the references of African clothing design patterns, I’ve decided to make two artworks, one to be more personal to Julian to keep while the second design is welcoming new customers.

 7.
Artist: Amoré van der Linde 
Title: Connection 
Shop: Cummin Up, 265E New Cross Road, SE14 6AR

I was inspired to create an illustrated poster of a group of people enjoying food from the restaurant, with the atmosphere of community that the space creates. I wanted to incorporate elements of the Caribbean and drew the meals based on food I personally love using Cummin’ up menu photos as references.

8.
Artist: Fiona Quadri
Title: A Place of Joy 
Shop: Divine Cargo, 355 New Cross Rd, SE14 6AT

The shop represents a place of nurture and support, of hope and joy. My painting shows how warm and soulful Bolane’s shop is, by showing lots of different colours. In the middle stands Bolane with her friend and a school child. 

Fiona is a multidisciplinary SE London artist with a focus on illustration. She is exploring themes of Belonging, Race and Ethnicity through the lens of the QUEER BIPOC communities.

9.
Artist: Flynn Richards 
Title: Soul Food 
Shop: Papi’s Grill, 338 NEW CROSS ROAD, SE14 6AG

10.
Artist: Jada Perry 
Title:  
Shop: Crumble Mania, 395a New Cross Road, SE14 6LA 

I had an amazing experience meeting Shayone and learning about the development of her business. Shayone is an Inspiring role model for young black individuals within the community. The Crumble recipe is something that was passed down from Grandma Mary  through the generations. I gained lots of inspiration for my interview and decided to focus on  the idea of passing things down through generations, along with Crumble Mania’s slogan ‘we eat as one’. So I thought using the layered background could represent each generation with the idea that the newer generations (top layer) are who we should focus on and inspire. The idea of layering also links with the fact that crumble is layered and each layer brings something different.