SPACE Studios Vicarage Lane2019

Vicarage Lane by Sahra Hersi installed at SPACE Ilford, photographed at the opening of SPACE Studios' new Ilford space. The work was the first in an ongoing series of billboard commissions. 2019.


♥ Client: SPACE Studios
♥ Year: 2019 to 2021 
♥ Location: Ilford, London
In 2019, Vicarage Lane, a large-scale illustration, was installed at SPACE Ilford as the gallery's first public art commission, presented on the billboard outside its entrance, a site established by SPACE to create visibility for artists based in the London Borough of Redbridge. The work drew on childhood memories of a home in a row of four terraced houses on Vicarage Lane, less than a mile from the gallery. It remained on display until 2021.

The illustration is a personal architectural narrative. Three iterations of self surround the familial home, articulating the influence of place and space on identity, and the way roots become an intrinsic part of who someone is. The piece holds the home and the self together, suggesting that the interior, private domains of a house, the parts usually concealed behind brick and glass, are where a person's desires, beliefs, and thoughts live. The standard exterior of social housing is transformed in this work to visually narrate the inner aspects of memory and personality.

It is the most autobiographical piece in the practice to date, sitting with themes of nostalgia and separation, and engaging with both retrospect and anticipation. Vicarage Lane was presented at a time of significant change for Ilford, amidst new developments and the anticipated arrival of Crossrail, later the Elizabeth line. The work acknowledges the ever-changing nature of places, capturing a moment for personal reflection and collective consideration of how a neighbourhood transforms around its people.


Vicarage Lane, large-scale illustration, SPACE Studios, 2019 to 2021.



Vicarage Lane installed at SPACE Ilford, 2019 to 2021.



Index ©2026 All Rights Reserved