Sarah Lippett's gorgeous illustrated tales of Margate discontent, joy and nostalgia

From Sarah Lippett, the lady who brought us the wonderful Stan – a comic book tale of her grandfather pieced together from others’ memories – comes the equally wonderful Living Here. The project is the result of Sarah spending a month living in the Cliftonville area of Margate, where she spoke to residents about their lives, their town and the changes they’ve seen there, before immortalising them in illustrated narrative panels.

These are shown on a site built by Little Digital (which also made the site for Stan), where five of the 18 stories currently sit, though more will be added over time. “The stories touch on nostalgia, of what the town once was, but they are also tales of the positive changes to the town, and the beautiful personalities of the people,” says Sarah.

“With everyone I spoke to, they were really negative for the first half hour, then end up saying ‘I’ll never leave, I love it here.’ Younger people who have moved here love it because it’s cheap to live, there’s beautiful beaches and it’s run-down, but they’re finding creativity in it and building studios and opening galleries and workspaces. Older people have seen it decline, and maybe want to see it as it used to be, but I wanted to show that there are positive things, too.”

She adds: “After a lot of the conversations I had, I was left feeling very sad, but other conversations were really uplifting. A lot of people were saying very personal things, so I had to edit it quite a lot. It’s not just people going to a gallery who will see the work, as it’s online.”

The stories of Living Here are gorgeous, both in style and narrative, and seem to carry the voices and emotions of their tellers perfectly. In the spirit of the project, some of the panels will be blown up and displayed in shop windows in Cliftonville’s Northdown Road high-street as part of the final exhibition, and will later be made into a comic book.

Sarah says that she loved the interactions with strangers that the project forced, which she attributes in part to her love of podcasts like This American Life. So who are the people who make the best stories for her work?

“People who had interesting stories about what used to happen in Cliftonville for nostalgia reasons, people who have exciting and positive things to say. A lot of people are people who are just not in my circle, or the places I usually go to. The ones who have completely different opinions that change my point of view. The people who blow my mind!”