Cockney is a visual archive of the most famous English rhyming slang, which originated in the East End of London in mid 19th century. The construction involves replacing a common word with a rhyming phrase of two or three words and then omitting the secondary rhyming word, making the origin and meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know: face becomes boat, because face rhymes with boat race; mate becomes china, because mate rhymes with china plate and so forth. We relay on the wittiness of the word game and decided to develop the project under the form of a rebus that combines East London classics with contemporary London, in order to get the readers involved into a further investigation of the meaning hidden behind the pictures. The frame chosen picks alphabetically Cockney words juxtaposed to their English counterpart.


PETRA VALENTI
Born 1988, Italy.
Lives and works in Italy.

PIETRO COCO
Born 1986, Italy.
Lives and works in Italy.