We’re excited to be working with Mereida Fajardo as our artist in residence from November 2025 to June 2026!
Mereida’s residency is part of Retrofit Street: a collaborative project between We Can Make and Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) on Andover Road. Retrofit Street focuses on improving existing homes to make them warmer, healthier and cheaper to run, while creating opportunities for learning, skills-sharing and local jobs.
The traditional way of doing retrofit work can be complex, top down approach with lots of technical processes happening at once. As collaborators, KWMC’s role in the project is in creative community engagement for the co-creation process and inclusion – making sure the residents ideas and needs are prioritised throughout the process. We’re also actively involved in developing and delivering with the neighbourhood trade crew what an inclusive site culture would mean for them.
Mereida’s role is to translate the project into simple stories that are clear, welcoming and genuinely useful for everyone to learn about retrofit and what’s happening on Andover Road. Her background in visual art, zines and comics makes her brilliantly placed to do this. Illustration and comics require limited text, which helps make the project more accessible – whether English isn’t your first language, or long written explanations feel overwhelming.
Mereida will be creating five zines throughout her residency. Each one will focus on different parts of the project. We’ll be sharing the zines here as they’re released, delivering copies to homes on Andover Road, with physical copies also available at KWMC.
First Zine – January 2026
Mereida’s first zine is an introduction to Retrofit Street, explaining what retrofit is, why this work matters, and what’s been happening day-to-day on Andover Road.
With support from Chloe Meineck, KWMC’s Creative Producer on Retrofit Street, Mereida has quickly built an understanding of the project and brought it to life in a way that feels simple and grounded in real people and places.
Mereida’s reflections so far…
“My time as artist in residence on the Retrofit project has been fantastic so far. Day-to-day, I’ve been joining the Neighbourhood Trade Crew as they work on homes on Andover Road, and it’s a pleasure to observe them at work. KWMC and We Can Make have worked hard to create a welcoming, inclusive environment that makes it a joy to come to work everyday.
I’ve come to the project with zero understanding of retrofit, construction or homes, so a big part of the project so far has been learning about these processes and approaches.
It’s really pushed me out of my comfort zone and it feels exciting to be part of the growing retrofit movement and part of a national network of projects exploring retrofit in new ways.”
-January 2026
Future Zines
We’re looking forward to sharing the next zine soon and to continuing this collaboration between artists, residents and retrofit practitioners as the project develops. Watch this space!