In Conversation with Koby Martin and Levi Naidu-Mitchell by Peckham Platform

Over the summer of 2023, Koby Martin was co-commissioned by Peckham Platform and Southwark Youth Justice Service to deliver a series of workshops where young people from the SYJS took the lead in shaping artworks exploring their social, cultural and economic contexts and ambitions. The workshops provided the basis of site-specific artworks on Rye Lane. Their conversation offers insight to collaborative commissioning processes from the perspective of the artist and community groups. This co-commission is made possible with generous funding and support from Arts Council England, London Borough of Southwark and Art Fund. About Koby Martin: A proud export of Ghana, His talent and God-given gift was nurtured in his motherland and polished in the United Kingdom. Martin’s work tackles various subject matters, including topics such as identity, social and racial injustice; thereby reflecting the epochs of the past and documenting the events of the current times. About Levi Naidu-Mitchell: Levi Naidu-Mitchell is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice centres around the Carnivalesque, its dynamism as an artistic medium and the plethora of ways it can be translated as a tool for positive, vibrant elevation. Naidu-Mitchell is Peckham Platform’s Learning and Community Engagement Manager, leading on the organisation’s creative learning strands and engaging local youth, families and children through co-developed programmes. About Southwark Youth Justice Service: A free government run service for young offenders or individuals that are at risk of offending who are between the ages of 11–17 years old About Peckham Platform: Peckham Platform is a creative and educational charity that brings local communities together with leading artists to co-produce social art that responds directly to the needs and concerns of the people involved. We commission new work, run workshops, talks and exhibitions and provide progression routes for young people. Our focus is on reaching those traditionally underrepresented in the cultural sector – in particular Global Majority Heritage and working-class communities who make up a significant amount of Peckham’s population but are critically underserved by its burgeoning cultural economy.