In September 2014 a production line opened in the area of Stratford, East London formally home to countless print works. The aim of this production line employing and training a diverse selection of people was to make an edition of pop-up books built from the history of this changing area and in doing so bring people together to think about this change.

The culmination of years of research, making and community engagement in the area the pop up book ‘Legend: An A-Z of the Lea Valley’ charts an alternative moving history of the area of East London transformed to stage the London 2012 Olympic Games. This handheld animation of regeneration is local and universal charting and reimagining industrial decline, mutating place names, flora and fauna and local legends. The book is represented by Kaleid Editions who took it straight from production line to the 2014 London Art Book Fair at the Whitechapel Gallery where it was awarded the Birgit Skiold Award for Excellence. It is in the collections of MoMA New York, V&A, Yale Centre for British Art and many more.

Pop Up Pop Up was the finale production of Hilary Powell’s AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. It was supported by Arts Council England, UCL, Institute of Making and London Borough of Newham.