Six artists come together to reimagine a guard room as a site of memory and connection. At The Guard Room asks: Can a space hold memory? Is it embedded in the fabric of walls, or carried through stories passed down by the people who once inhabited them?

Presented at House of Denna, itself a former guardhouse for the Royal Artillery, the exhibition brings together six contemporary artists whose practices respond to history, storytelling, and place.

Annette Fernando traces forgotten narratives through found postcards, uncovering personal stories of the workers who once powered the Royal Arsenal.

Frank Creber presents a series of re-enactment paintings focused on the Royal Arsenal Guard Rooms, reflecting on the lives of guards and their families set against the broader histories of war and empire.

Michael Riddle creates dreamlike psychological spaces where folklore and memory collide, using an earthy palette and instinctive mark-making to capture fleeting inner states.

Murude Mehmet explores symbols of protection through her ceramic practice. Hares, often seen as guards, appear alongside fish from the Thames and local bird species, connecting to the site’s two original guardhouses, which were built to protect the river.

Temsüyanger Longkumer contributes organic terracotta structures that explore ideas of protection and the tension between inside and outside, continuing his Parallel Commune series, which positions the human body as a microcosm of events beyond the skin and vice versa.

Finally, Wan-Ru Lin presents a digital collage inspired by the Guard Room’s architecture and surroundings: its bricks, windows, trees, and river. Exploring transformation and the passage of time, she digitally merges past and present views of the site, allowing different moments to coexist. Colourful, playful, and futuristic, her work reveals unseen layers of history and invites viewers to reflect on how we perceive time and the passage of change.

Together, these works form a meditation on the Guard Room’s layered past while celebrating the connections between memory, history, and contemporary practice.

House of Denna, 54 No1 Street, Woolwich, London SE18 6ST. @houseofdenna

Open Monday-Friday, 7am-4pm, Saturday, 7.30-5.30pm Sunday, 9am-5pm
Travel: Closest Stations Woolwich (Elizabeth Line, National Rail) and Woolwich Arsenal (DLR, National Rail).

For more information, contact wanrulin@rurubombltd.co.uk