Open Doors is a weekend once a year which lets everyone access buildings which are otherwise locked away from public gaze; it lets us see what we are excluded from, for the other ~363 days of the year. We used these glimpses behind high walls as an opportunity to interview a random selection of people in Oxford University’s college gardens, to ask them how they feel to be in these spaces and how they feel about the buildings they can and can’t access. We made reference to the exclusion not only from university college grounds, which are understandably student focused; but also asked how they felt about the “exclusion” from the numerous empty shops and buildings across the city; some of which are also owned by the very same university colleges.

Rawz is a Multidisciplinary Artist from Oxford. His practice centres around words and music, and is rooted in social justice and the exploration and understanding of our interconnected worlds. He experiments with a range of mediums including collage, sculpture, videography, photography and more, bringing these skills together with his poetry and music to create projects which combine a range of media.

Malcolm Atkins has been working as a community musician for Littlemore Church since 2016 and in that time has gathered sounds and songs from people of the area and encouraged participation in projects that reflect in music, dance, text and image the reality of life in the area. One such project was to gather memories of sound from elderly people in Littlemore which we found unlocked fascinating insights into the way things were. As well as this recording a film was also made on this subject (the film soundtrack was by a then 93 year old). Sadly some interviewed have since passed – another reason we see this kind of work as so valuable.

The Modest Proposals proudly present the Diggers’ Song © Gerard Winstanley. Dedicated to the people who are taking away Oxford’s community spaces and in solidarity with Land Justice Oxfordshire.

Vocals: Ciaran Walsh

Other Stuff (including some backing vocals): Malcolm Atkins