Fifty Traceys thumbnail 1
Fifty Traceys thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Fifty Traceys

Print
2018 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These bank notes were produced as part of a project, Bank Job, by artist Hilary Powell and filmmaker Dan Edelstyn. This project – part art installation, part publicity stunt, and part charitable endeavour – was staged in an old Co-op bank in Hoe Street, Walthamstow – renamed ‘HSCB’ (Hoe Street Central Bank). They printed money featuring the faces of four people involved in local services – Tracey Griffiths, teacher at a primary school, Gary Nash of the Eat or Heat foodbank, Steve Barnabas of The Soul Project, a youth project for teenagers, and Saira Mir and family from PL84U- Al Suffa, a soup kitchen for the homeless. The artists are selling the notes at their face value (£5, £10, £20, £50) and the project aims to raise money for the four local services but also, rather more ambitiously, to raise enough money to buy out the £1m of debt owed by the people of the E17 postcode, in the London Borough that is one of the most deprived in country. Thus the project advocates for the abolition or cancellation of debts, inspired by the Strike Debt and Rolling Jubilee initiatives in the US, which buy debt and abolish it for ethical reasons. The notes are screen-printed, with the addition of letterpress, and foil blocking, stamped, edition numbered, and signed on the HSCB premises.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleFifty Traceys (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Screenprint, with letterpress and foil blocking
Brief description
Fifty Traceys. Bank note issued by Hoe Street Central Bank, Walthamstow, London, for the Bank Job project by Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn, 2018.
Physical description
Bank note printed in black and green with gold foil blocking
Dimensions
  • Height: 90mm
  • Width: 160mm
Copy number
5/50
Marks and inscriptions
Hilary Powell 5/50 (in pencil on the back)
Gallery label
(2021)
Selling money for social good

Sold at face value in a former bank in Walthamstow, north-east London, these banknotes were part of a creative fundraising project. Depicting local individuals like a teacher and charity worker, half the proceeds of sale went towards four local services, including a youth centre and a food bank. The rest of the income was put towards paying off the collective £1m debt owed by locals.

Banknotes featuring local people
‘Bank Job’, 2018
Designed by Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn
Published by Hoe Street Central Bank, UK
Screen print with letterpress and foil blocking
Museum nos. E.3291, 3294, 3301, 3304-2018

The object sits in the 'Crisis and Conflict' section of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021.
Summary
These bank notes were produced as part of a project, Bank Job, by artist Hilary Powell and filmmaker Dan Edelstyn. This project – part art installation, part publicity stunt, and part charitable endeavour – was staged in an old Co-op bank in Hoe Street, Walthamstow – renamed ‘HSCB’ (Hoe Street Central Bank). They printed money featuring the faces of four people involved in local services – Tracey Griffiths, teacher at a primary school, Gary Nash of the Eat or Heat foodbank, Steve Barnabas of The Soul Project, a youth project for teenagers, and Saira Mir and family from PL84U- Al Suffa, a soup kitchen for the homeless. The artists are selling the notes at their face value (£5, £10, £20, £50) and the project aims to raise money for the four local services but also, rather more ambitiously, to raise enough money to buy out the £1m of debt owed by the people of the E17 postcode, in the London Borough that is one of the most deprived in country. Thus the project advocates for the abolition or cancellation of debts, inspired by the Strike Debt and Rolling Jubilee initiatives in the US, which buy debt and abolish it for ethical reasons. The notes are screen-printed, with the addition of letterpress, and foil blocking, stamped, edition numbered, and signed on the HSCB premises.
Collection
Accession number
E.3294-2018

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Record createdMay 30, 2018
Record URL
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