You can find the first four artists films here below
Medway Superstars – Jake Wood

Medway Superstars – Jane Pitt

Medway Superstars – Sarah Blacker – Barrowman

Medway Superstars – Christopher Sacre

MAPP PROJECT NOTES

I am Margherita Gramegna Taylor, an artist, curator and producer.
I am Artistic Director of 51zero, an artist-led organisation that I founded in 2010, to
present publicly funded projects and cultural events that support artists and engage
audiences across Kent (England), the UK and internationally.
The name ’51zero’ represents the geographical coordinates of Medway, UK where
we are based. Our focus lies in placemaking and fostering international cultural
exchange.
51zero organises a biennial festival that showcases moving image and
contemporary digital art practices.
Currently, I am creating MAPP (Medway Artists Portrait Platform ©). MAPP’s
focus is on portraiture, a genre rich in human expression and storytelling, has the
potential to resonate with international audiences, fostering empathy and
connection.
MAPP is advocating for the value of the artist’s role in local urban and cultural
regeneration. Our aim is to represent all of Medway’s artists by 2030, the final year of
the present Medway Culture Strategy, building a live profile and archive of Medway
as a significant, thriving and internationally connected artistic hub.
Artistic representations often reflect societal values, beliefs, and identities, that are
universally relevant. By showcasing locally based artists’ work internationally,
MAPP contributes to a broader dialogue on cultural exchange and exemplifies the
interconnectedness of artistic expression across borders.

MEDWAY SUPERSTARS

Medway Superstars, STAGE 1 of MAPP (Medway Artists Portrait Platform ©), is
an Arts Council England funded project showcasing the creative talents of artists
based across Medway, Kent, UK – from those in the early stages of their careers, to
those who are internationally renowned.
For STAGE 1, 51zero is producing filmed portraits of 10 selected artists.
We work with each artist to capture the essence of who they are and what they do.
We want Medway Superstars to be a poetic, intimate portrait of the artists we have
chosen to meet. The process is an artistic one. Interviews are both formal and
playful, expressing the artists’ relationship with the place they live/work, and their
ambition for culture in Medway over the next 10 years.
Going forward, and in order to build a live profile and archive of Medway as a
significant, thriving and internationally connected artistic hub, we will be creating a
tool for future artists to be included in MAPP post 2030.

ABOUT MEDWAY

Medway is an urban conurbation (population 280 000) of five small towns – Strood,
Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham – nestled alongside the River Medway
in the South East of England within the Thames Gateway regeneration zone.
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the closure of Chatham Naval Dockyard in 1984,
one of the largest employers in the area with a loss of 20 000 jobs and an
international reputation for excellence in skills and education in shipbuilding that was
recognised across the world.
Since 1984, while the area has struggled socially and economically, it’s artistic
community has grown and thrived locally, regionally and internationally with creative
practitioners who studied at the art school ( variously known as Medway School of
Art, Kent Institute of Art and Design and University for the Creative Arts, Rochester)
and locally-based musicians going on to build extensive international careers : Billy
Childish, Tracy Emin, James Taylor (James Taylor Quartet), Nitin Sawhney and
Zandra Rhodes, among them.
With the art college being closed in 2023 and sold for redevelopment into luxury
flats, and the area predicted to be one of the largest growing urban conurbation
outside London in the coming years, this seems an important moment in time to be
fore-fronting the voices of the next generation of artists embedded in the area.

THE OLD HIGH ST INTRA

Our first four films (available to view now on our website) have been made in The Old
High St Intra, recently designated a Heritage Action Zone through funding from
Historic England. A street linking Chatham and Rochester. This is supporting the
area to become a cultural and creative hub hosting a rich mix of artists, creatives,
makers, cafes and restaurants in under-used historic buildings that are currently in
need of refurbishment and conversion.
This microcosm of Medway as a whole has welcomed the incomer and the outsider
for over a century. By being from ‘elsewhere’ myself, I feel I can bring this sensibility
to the project.
Medway Superstars, the first stage of MAPP (Medway Artists Portrait Platform ©),
will premiere in the autumn as part of Medway Culture Fest 2024, marking the 40th
anniversary, a celebration of the contribution that creativity and culture make to our
identity.

You can find the first four artists films here below

Medway Superstars – Jake Wood
Medway Superstars – Jane Pitt
Medway Superstars – Sarah Blacker – Barrowman
Medway Superstars – Christopher Sacre