Ben Edge | Guest Lecture

Ben Edge is an artist, songwriter and folklorist who, over the past 7 years, has been obsessively documenting the seasonal folk customs of the British Isles. In 2021 his 'Frontline Folklore' series was exhibited alongside Simon Costin's 'Museum of British Folklore' collection at the Crypt gallery of the St Pancras New Church, in an exhibition titled 'Ritual Britain' that attracted over 10,000 visitors with extensive media coverage and viral exposure across social media.

Join us on Tuesday 14 March to learn more about his work, including his Folklore Activist Manifesto, below.

.

Folklore Activist Manifesto

Folklore is the traditional beliefs, stories, songs, customs and art passed down orally by ordinary people, who’s voices have survived against all the odds in spite of attempts to eradicate them from history.

Folklore questions the colonial mindset to only see historic truth and value in the accounts of the educated classes and oppressive regimes who had the privilege of the written word.

Folklore is a universal phenomenon, in which we celebrate our collective shared humanity and joy of being alive whilst simultaneously celebrating the never ending uniqueness, individuality and creativity that can be found within regional culture across the world.

Folklore reclaims art and creativity as a necessary human endeavour for everyone and not just for the select few.

Folklore manifests itself through skilled craft and regional culture and by doing so is an antidote to capitalist mass produced, mono culture in which the value of the individual is disposable and all high streets are the same.

Folklore encourages us to actively remind ourselves that we are part of nature and most importantly not above it. Taking the time to celebrate the wheel of the year is a radical act of reconnection and defiance in the face of climate change.

Folklore proves that we don’t need gods to be spiritual, and that creation and destruction are forces that lie within each of us.

Folklore, much like the history of Britain itself is an ever evolving mongrel that contains the ephemeral remnants of everyone that has ever told it, retold it, lived it and breathed it. A living entity that connects us to the past, present and future constantly changing and adapting through time.