Slamming doors: falling out and fighting back in a housing crisis

Slamming Doors is not a static artist monograph, but a book that acts as a manual, an archive, a meeting place and a reference or, in the words of contributor Lola Olufemi, ‘an attempt at spreading the material out on the table, and asking what can we build from this?’ Olufemi’s text reimagines a user’s manual as a step-by-step guide to political insurrection and intimacy. Historian Hannah Proctor explores the emotional dynamics of collective action, drawing connections from the Kurdish women’s movement to the ZAD commune in France. In conversation with organiser Dean Spade, questions of failure, conflict and intergenerational learning point to how historical knowledge sustains contemporary struggle.

The book also revisits The House That Jill Built (1998) and the story of Take Root, a women’s self-build group in Glasgow, reconstructed by curator and academic Kirsten Lloyd. At its core are two interviews with housing and anti-poverty activist Cathy McCormack (1952–2022), whose voice anchors the publication in lived experience, humour and resistance.

Through essays, transcripts and archival material, Slamming Doors mobilises text, image and conversation to examine how collective struggles are recorded, shared and kept alive.