Representation for BIPOC community of photographers and artists hasn’t really existed within the Midlands. After largely solely white led organisations have been present in the region for a while, especially when many of our towns and cities in the Midlands are largely diverse, the question remains why is it that there have been no Black or Asian photographers networks with a diverse leadership and how then can an organisation reflect and serve their communities?? Along with Andrew Jackson director of BCVA Sebah Chaudhry, Jagdish Patel and Anand Chhabra discuss their photography works and the need for ReFramed network. Special thanks for to Louise Fedetov Clements for the invitation to the FORMAT PhotoForum to start the discussion. FORMAT hosts the largest photography Festival in the UK biannually.
ACE National emergency support for BCVA to launch ReFramed and The Digital Diaspora: COVID 19 project.
Black Country Visual Arts have been awarded emergency funding by Arts Council England. BCVA Directors, Anand Chhabra & Jagdish Patel, welcome the award. It will mean the during this period, we can continue to help to profile the stories of under-represented BAME communities through the Digital Diaspora project.
The Digital Diaspora: Midlands Covid 19 project seeks to document how the pandemic has disproportionately affected the BAME community across the Midlands.The funding will allow us to work with other BAME artists through our newly established ReFramed Network.
The ReFramed Network is a collaboration with artist Andrew Jackson and curator Sebah Chaudhry and will help profile work from new emerging BAME artists from across the region. The network will, over time, provide support to BAME photographers and local BAME communities.
The Digital Diaspora project will be providing two bursaries for emerging BAME artists to create new work and will be running workshops within the local BAME community.
If you want to find out more about the project, or the opportunities visit the website at www.reframed.uk
Historic England commission images on COVID-19 in the National Press- June 4th 2020.
Anand Chhabra was commissioned by Historic England to document the effects of COVID-19 for 7 days (please see 7 Days with COVID-19 https://www.bcva.info/7-days-with-covid19) . He was chosen as one of 10 regional photographers all working under social distancing regulations. This meant at the time of the commission Anand could only photograph within a radius of 500 meters of his home - and then only submitting a single image to Historic England at the end of each day.
The most important aspect for Anand was the unintentional way his photographs began to reveal how the disease was affecting those from the BAME community. Anand’s photographs show the extent at which people were impacted by the pandemic. Jaminder Singh, for example, who had recently had major heart surgery was at a local supermarket, 200 meters from Anand’s home in Wolverhampton and astonishingly fully clad in PPE. A couple of days later Anand photographed at the allotments near his home as part of the commision and took a portrait of Jenny Mclean a Jamaican lady who had lost her best friend of 33 years. She spoke to Anand about being at the funeral the day before which she described was an emotionally sickening event for her.
Anand Chhabra’s image (main centre) commissioned by Historic England used by National Press to report on COVID-19 affecting BAME communities in UK.
Punjabi Workers exhibition at Dudley archives cancelled due to Coronavirus 4th April - 1st June 2020
Anand Chhabra’s exhibtion for the Living Memory Project has unfortunately had to be cancelled but understandably so in the interest of public safety because of COVID-19, the virus that is shaking the world at the time of writing. The exhibtion was due to start from 4th April. Largely Anand was asked to be based in Dudley by Geoff Broadway director of the Living Memory project. Anand chose to work with students at Dudley College as well as conduct research on this area of interest surrounding Punjabi workers. We are looking to reschedule the exhibtion and base it in Walsall later in the summer, should the issues abate surrounding coronavirus. Here are some of the images that were due to go on display as part of Anand’s research into archives of early migrant Punjabi workers lives in the Black Country. All current portraits © Anand Chhabra
Wolverhampton Mayor's Invitation Family Tree Day March 20th 2020. (Cancelled due to Covid-19)
Great to be back presenting on the research and impact of the Apna Heritage Archive in Wolverhampton where it originates. This time director Anand Chhabra as a keynote speaker will present a personal view of the timeline of migration to Wolverhampton through a photographic history 1960s-80s and impacts the project & acclaimed exhibition had on the City’s Punjabis. The day is aligned with some fantastic workshops and stories around archives from such a great line up of speakers and workshop hosts from the BC area! So looking forward to being a part of Mayor Claire Darke’s City wide Event! Book here or regret it forever! https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-tree-day-tickets.
'Moving to the City' - Exhibition launch & Artist Talk by Anand Chhabra Feb 7th 2020 - Arts Council England funded
‘Moving to the City’ has been a fantastic & enjoyable project to work for our Director Anand Chhabra. This project was commissioned by WAAS & funded by Arts Council England, Anand worked with various ethnic community groups in Worcester during 2018-19 co-creating work them for exhibition in Feb 2020. The work which comprised of various mosaic images & portraits (x4) 6ft x 4 ft portrait sculptures were then exhibited at The HIVE in Worcester where he held his residency during this time. The launch event was a great time celebrating the project with participants and colleagues from HIVe as well as arts organisations from the region. Special thanks to HIVE & WAAS colleagues in ensuring a great space for visitors to enjoy this work. Many positive words written about the artwork on the visitors book.
Participants and the regions artists and leaders came to here the talk about Anand Chhabra’s residency at the HIVE and supported by WAAS and Arts Council England.
The event was officially opened by the City’s Mayor Allah Ditta on Feb 7th 2020. Over 13000 visitors saw the exhibition at the fantastic venue The HIVE in Worcester during the month.
Installation of 'Moving to the City' exhibition at HIVE in Worcester Feb 3rd 2020 - Arts Council England Funded
Finally after 2 years of working very hard with varied multicultural and ethnic minority groups in Worcester Director Anand Chhabra is installing the work as part of his residency at the HIVE in Worcester (ACE funded) entitled ‘Moving to the City’. The work has been co-created with the local community. The final artworks changed from a planned framed series of images to fixate on the wall to having huge boards 6x4 foot from the portraits and then superimposing the images that the community produced (3600 images used). Thinking about the use of the large exhibition space led to the change and a stronger and unique development that the artist was excited by and will work well in attracting a larger and more present audience so more locals can be impacted by it. This will help HIVE’s understanding of giving the artist the time & autonomy needed to develop the way they work. Feedback from visitors in the visitors book and at the forthcoming celebration event will also record and find out people’s views and ideas for developing work like this in future.
Final touches for the installation of exhibtion ‘Moving to the City’ artwork and curation by Anand Chhabra/Arts Council England funded
Close up view of work created by community groups and superimposed on the portraits created by © Anand Chhabra/Arts Council England Funded
Meeting Lenny Henry......in Auckland New Zealand Jan 2020
Two Black Country blokes meet in a cafe in Auckland New Zealand…..(what we were doing there is a story for another day!) I was a bit startsruck with meeting Sir Lenny Henry….when I saw him I went up to him and said ‘Yowm from Dudley aye ya!? He was startled by it and so I introduced myself and when I told him I was from Wolverhampton he enquired ‘What are you doing here!?’ So I told him and that started a conversation oddly enough me telling him my wife had bought me a copy of his new book (Who am I Again?|) for Christmas which I had started reading and immediately followed up with watching the Alan Yentob Arena documentary which focused on Lenny early life. So it was a surreal experience to meet the man himself and in New Zealand! He was interested in knowing what I thought about his book to which I said I loved looking at the archive images and had found the his story on his early life in Dudley which particularly centred around his mum really fascinating, as the story resonates and reminds me of my own experience of parents who had migrated to the Black Country at the same time. Sir Lenny is a true gentleman and took time to speak and take a selfie…..made up!
'Moving to the City' exhibtion invites have gone out!
Looking forward to the invite Invitation : Moving to the City
Exhibition Launch and Artist Talk
Please join us for the launch event of 'Moving to the City'. Artist Anand Chhabra will be exhibting a series of portrait diptychs commissioned by HIVE Worcester and in partnership with Arts Council England. The artist will present a talk about his participatory arts practise amongst migrant communities who have settled within the City of Worcester. Anand's large scale mosaics have been co-created with individuals, school pupils and community groups through
photography workshops during his residency.
The exhibition will be officially launched by the City's Mayor after a short talk by the Artist in the Studio room. Light refereshments will be available.
TIME: 6.30p.m - 8.00p.m 11th Feb 2020
VENUE : The HIVE Sawmill Close. The Butts, Worcester WR1 3PD.
Different and yet the Same Portrait Diptychs co-created by the local community & Artist © Anand Chhabra
National Trust Artists, Academics & Evaluation - Informing the Eastern Museum in a 'Year of listening'
Working as a Community Engagement Consultant for the National Trust property at Kedleston Hall in Derby for their Year of Listening, Anand has been working reaching out to communities and encouraging them to explore the collection as well as help inform Kedleston Hall as to how to share the future curation of the Museum. For many of these such communities living in Derby they have been invited to explore freely and feedback to the National Trust reasons to bring about the changes needed for the Eastern Museum and how they would like to see a future curation take shape with their own cultural reasons for doing so.
Anand thought it would be good idea to invite a group of artists and academics and University students from South Asian origin to also put inform the year of listening at Kedleston. Joining up with Derby Museums, various days were held to invite small groups with big minds to feedback to the team of staff at Kedleston.
We also met to evaluate how far Kedleston hall has moved in community relationships through Anand’s role (see last two photographs) and the good news has been its been an upwards trajectory with links from communities, stakeholders and organisations, artists and academics for the Trust to build on going forward!
Staff introduce artists, academics and staff into the Eastern Museum at Kedleston Hall
Artists such as Joginder begin to discuss ways of curating the objects with a whole range of different groups who may visit
Feeding back to the questions set up by Anand & staff at Kedleston Hall.
Post it notes on thoughts to further questions displayed at the museum for feedback by Asian artists and academics.
Discussions continue after lunch about the changes that could be made by artists and academics to staff at Kedleston Hall.
A before graph charting Kedleston Hall’s community outreach connections before enlisting Anand Chhabra’s help.
An after graph of communities informed, consulted, engaged and partners raised during Anand’s role as CEC at Kedleston Hall.
Diwan Manna at Dudley College.
December was an intense month for projects as Anand arranged a number of things for Dudley College students to to be enlightened on, this event was arranged for Anand’s work on the Living Memory Project whereby Anand was commissioned to be situated in Dudley town. With Diwan Manna president of the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademie in Chandigarh, Punjab, India arriving in the UK. Anand asked if Diwan would visit & inspire the students by his own arts work as he is a collected photographic artist in some of the worlds major institutions. Diwan agreed & has been a great supporter and bent over backwards in getting the message about the archive in all the media across India and televised an interview with Parul an award wining journalist from the Punjab. That particular interview has been seen around the world by Punjabi’s internationally and even from people in Wolverhampton where it originated! There is not a media outlet that I didn’t conduct some sort of interview with through Diwan’s network right across North India in the short time I was there. BCVA is in much gratitude for what DIwan achieved on our behalf! Diwan spoke to a packed audience and articulated what it takes to be a artist through his amazing work, inspiring students to move on to higher education and think like an artist in order to develop their work further. Anand also arranged for Diwan to speak later in the week at University of Wolverhampton to Degree students there and managed to agree a future student exchange visits with the course leader.
Diwan Manna President of the major arts organisation in the Punjab inspires photo students about his own portfolio held in major collections around the world and how he aspires to create artistic work. © Anand Chhabra
Students listen intently and hang on every word from Diwan’s fantastic presentation. © Anand Chhabra
Students engage with Diwan through a Q/A session at the end of Diwan’s presentation. © Anand Chhabra
Dudley College students, learn about collections and archiving photos at Dudley College (ACE Funded)
As part of Anand’s continued work with Dudley College students and the Living Memory project, Anand has arranged with Paul Ford tat Dudley Archives to conduct a workshop presentation on how archivists record photographs, tour the Strong Rooms within the building and also present to students the collections held at the archives. This enables students to expand themselves in an area that is currently not taught in their curriculum concerning vernacular images. The students received a masterclass from Paul on how images are given dates, descriptions, catalogued, retained, housed, printed and it went on like this! The students got access to some of the oldest and most valuable collections including a papal address on parchment to one of the local Lords in the area from the 12th century. They got to understand why we have string rooms and the students got to look at various photographic collections held at Dudley Archives from past to present. We are thankful to Dudley College c/o Phil Brooks and students as well as Dudley archives for working with Anand in partnership!
Students receive a masterclass from Paul Ford on how photos are archived at DA.
Students receiving a tour and look at some of the most important documents within the strong rooms at DA.
Photo students got to view both ancient and modern photographic collections at Dudley Archives. (Phil Brooks centre)
Students use new technology to convert 100+ year old glass plates & convert into positives on their mobile phones. © Anand Chhabra
Anand also critiqued students work with their own vernacular images on the day towards their own individual work for the Living Memory Project.
Dr Gil Pasternak, Black Country Visual Arts, Dudley College and the Living Memory Project
Anand Chhabra was commissioned by the Living Memory project ( Arts Council Funded) to work in Dudley to find partners and to develop arts work in line with the Living Memory’s project's purpose in the Black Country. Developing work with partners Dudley College, Anand started workshops with 2nd year photo students around the digital Apna Heritage Archive conducting a presentation & showing the students the importance of working in collaboration in order to establish a project like this. In order to inspire the students further and impact them through a subject matter that is not taught currently at the college the subjects of vernacular images and digitisation practices, Anand invited Dr Gil Pasternak, Associate Professor of Social and Political Photographic Cultures and Programme Leader of MA in Photographic History at De Montfort University in Leicester. Between 2018 and 2021 Dr Pasternak is Project Leader of a major European Commission funded research programme called “Digital Heritage in Cultural Conflicts” and he has been an inspirational figure for BCVA, providing fantastic input and helping shape the future of the AH archive. In mutual agreement between Dudley College, Anand & Gil Pasternak & for mutual reasons for doing so, Dr Pasternak came to teach on the History of Family Photography to around 50 students at Dudley College followed by another visit to University of Wolverhampton (BCVA partners) where Dr Pasternak talked about the uses of photography in conflict areas around the world past and present and with reference to changes brought about by digital technologies. The result was an awesome masterclass presentation at both venues. All images © Anand Chhabra.
Dr Gil Pasternak begins his lecture to around 50 students at Dudley College on the history of family photographs and the uses of family images.
Dr Pasternak starts with the origins of family photography ‘Cartes de Visite’ in early photography.
What people do with their family photographs.
Students work in small groups, discussing their own historical family images among themselves and with Dr Pasternak.
Dr Pasternak at University of Wolverhampton presents the history of photography in areas of conflict and their uses.
Various slides on conflict areas and how photography is preserved and used in the past and present, also with reference to digitisation practices, digital platforms and their impact.
BCVA hosts seminar Race, Activism & Art @ Wolverhampton Art Gallery & with Keith Piper (Heritage Lottery Funded)
BCVA Director Jagdish Patel single handedly organised the event at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on 19th October. It was in 1981 the gallery hosted the first major exhibition by young black artists, ‘Black Art an’ done’ The first National Black Art Convention took place at Wolverhampton Polytechnic a year later. These two events helped to spawn a new wave of black art that reflected the social and political issues experienced by a generation of Black British people whose parents came to Britain in the 1950s & 60s. The City, which is often remembered for Enoch Powell, is not often acknowledged for the role it had in the birth of the new waves of black art.
As Wolverhampton Art Gallery hosts an important exhibtion, ‘Keith Piper: Body Poltics. Work from 1981 - 2007, we joined with artist Keith Piper and Dr Shirin Hirsch, Suresh Grover, Vanley Burke, Kom Achall & Anand Chhabra in this seminar and chaired by Lisa Burke & Ian Sargeant. We explored to great acclaim the interconnections between artists, activism and community politics and their relevance for our present. Heritage Lottery Funded - Jagdish Patel.
Dr Shirin Hirsch & Suresh Grover kick off proceedings at with a histories of Enoch Powell from 50 yrs ago and Black & Asian Activism at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. © Anand Chhabra
Artist Keith Piper pictured with Kom Achall discourses a retrospective of his exhibition and the timeline of Black Arts power to create change. © Anand Chhabra
The audience interacts through Q & A session over each of the two sessions of the seminar. © Anand Chhabra
Arts worker Lisa Harrison discusses the Wolverhampton Welcomes the World ( a refutation of Enoch Powell) as part of the project ‘Many Rivers to Cross’ partnered by BCVA and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.
Vanley Burke the Godfather of Black British Photography presents on race & black history on his historical photographic work ‘By the Rivers of Birminam’.
BCVA Directors Anand Chhabra and Jagdish Patel summarise the days packed out event at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. -Heritage Lottery Funded
Anand Chhabra with Keith Piper the man behind the Black Art Movement that started in Wolverhampton holds a retrospective exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery Keith Piper : Body Politics
National Photo Symposium III : Socially Engaged Practice - speaker Anand Chhabra October 2019
A packed out audience took their place on October 10th 2019 for the National Photo Symposium at the lecture theatre of the University of Birmingham. Most of the 120 delegates comprised a majority of BA degree photography graduates and artists as well as leaders in the Photography world in the UK. The focus for all speakers for the fully booked conference was centred on socially engaged practice took place . BCVA Director Anand Chhabra was invited to speak by GRAIN’s director Nicola Shipley about Black Country Visual Arts projects and regarding the research, collaboration and community impact the project. It was a brilliant event with lots of input going into the audience and ways to hear from them through varied Q/A.
Black Country Visual Arts Director Anand Chhabra presents on research, collaboration and socially engaged practice for the National Photo Symposium III October 2019 at University of Birmingham. © Jonny Bark/GRAIN. Arts Council England Funded
Audiences respond and asks questions to Anand regarding the Apna Heritage Archive & representation of minority groups. © Jonny Bark/GRAIN. Arts Council England funded.
Anand (second from left) answers audience questions on socially engaged practice from the morning session with a panel left to right Anthony Luvera (Photography for Whom), Liz Weiwora (CP @ Open Eye Gallery), Becky Sexton (Project Manager at Mutlistory) and Dr John Hillman (Head of Photography, University of Birmingham) . All Images © Jonny Bark/GRAIN Arts Council Engalnd funded.
Exhibtion 'When the Snow Melts' World Wars, Empires & Muslim soldiers 27th Sept - 31 Dec - New Art Exchange, Nottingham - BCVA Director Jagdish Patel (ACE & Heritage Lottery funded)
‘When the Snow Melts’
Millions of soldiers were recruited to the British Army from Asia and Africa during the two World Wars, and many millions more were involved in the war effort as civilians. The two World Wars were truly global events.
During wartime the role of black and Asian soldiers was widely reported, yet when the guns fell silent, their presence disappeared from the public gaze. Over the years the process of public remembrance through memorials, books, films and art – created a national narrative without their presence. In Britain, the celebration of Britain’s heroic past rarely included black and Asian people, perhaps contributing to a type of ‘psychic void’ which has failed to write people from different backgrounds into the history of war. Our shared common collective story is therefore buried away, as if under a layer of snow. This exhibition seeks to readdress that.
Artists Jagdish Patel and Farida Makki have been working with local families to explore the connections between Nottingham’s Muslim community and the wider war narrative. In this exhibition they use personal memory, maps, photographs and archive material to pose questions about the process of war memorialisation, empire and its interconnections to our present day identities. - Jagdish Patel
Main view of the exhibition curated by Jagdish Patel.
Jagdish Patel explains to local visitors parts of the exhibition. Architrave designed by the artist to reflect Sikh, Hindu and Islamic culture for reflection on the exhibition.
Ephemera and archive related to the exhibition’s focus on ethnic minorities role in the World Wars and the effects of war on them.
Jagdish Patel explains details of individuals enlisted and affected by war in the exhibition.
The exhibition features current day portraits of those children of war time soldiers who have migrated to the region.
Jagdish explains to visitors the archive & the various parts of the exhibition.
Black Country Touring - Back in 10 is back - Photography at BCLM as well as shops in Wolverhampton and West Bromwich.
Its a pleasure to be able to photograph for this organisation with some stellar peeps working at the helm. What we really love is how diverse the projects artists and leadership is at BCT. Its truly reflective of the people they serve in the Black Country and they deserve all the credit they get. Performances that take minutes to perform often belie the amount of work the team of producers and actors do, yet they always do it with joy. There were two lots of Back in 10 performances, one taking place at Black Country Living Museum and the other in various shops and cafes in and around Wolverhampton and West Bromwich. The team always manage to pull of some brilliant effect and adjust to their working environment wherever they are placed here’s 3 images from BCLM and 5 artist performances from the two Black Country towns.
Sonia Sabri reaches a crescendo in her performance for ‘The Pageant’ at Black Country Living Museum. ©Anand Chhabra
Its time to Shake Rattle & Roll at Black Country Living Museum. ©Anand Chhabra
Father &. Daughter battle it out to delivery a baby in time at Black Country Living Museum! © Anand Chhabra
Vimal Korpal as the Magnificent Maharaja of sari’s & suits performs withRicardo Santos Rocha providing the background music, Wolverhampton. © Anand Chhabra
Amahra Spence performs inspired drama by the warmth and resilience of the behind Tropical Spyce, West Bromwich. © Anand Chhabra
Lady Sanity and Ricardo Santos Rocha skilfully shape a rap to live to audiences & customers at Bals Hair & Beauty , West Bromwich © Anand Chhabra
Jake makes a drawings using tea leaves and templates. He tells stories behind empire and local migration to audiences at Kafe B70, West Bromwich. © Anand Chhabra
Bohdan Piasecki plays a new gameshow with he audience and participants where stories are played instead of cards. © Anand Chhabra
'Moving to the City' - Portrait event at The HIVE, Worcester July - Anand Chhabra residency- (ACE funded)
Part of Anand Chhabra’s artist residency at the HIVE was to invite people to be part of a coordinated and co-creative process so the community could work together to create a single work of art . In July Anand set up a portrait studio at the HIVE and then invited the public to be a part of the event by having their photograph taken by the artist, the artwork due to be displayed at the Hive in February 2020. Anand was looking to photograph people with a story or history regarding their move to the City of Worcester. To realise the vision Anand wanted to create some sort of portrait mosaic with a number of faces that would speak about the diversity of the City as well as allowing people to upload their own images and super impose them on to the portrait for an exhibition.
Anand shows portrait image to a participant for the Moving to the city event held at the HIVE Worcester.
Portraits from the day’s event at the HIVE. © Anand Chhabra (Refresh Browser to see full loop of images)
Mapping out which parts of the world the participants were photographed had moved from to Worcester.
Portraits taken were then displayed to encourage people to future events at the HIVE - Arts Council Funded
BLAST! Photo Festival Talk and Exhibition Launch - Curation of Apna Heritage Archive exhibition in Smethwick.
Blast! Photo Festival took place in the summer of 2019 through a series of talks and walks by 40 commissioned artists by Multistory. Anand was commissioned to bring a new curation of the acclaimed Apna Heritage Archive to the BC region, something that Black Country Arts was keen to achieve. The work was constructed and exhibited at Smethwick Gurdwara (historically set as Britain’s first ever Gurdwara) it was a great venue for the exhibition and the archive was very well received by the leaders at GNG Smethwick Humraj and Jatinder and the committee. The Gurdwara won the Duke of Edingburgh Award as licensed centre and became the largest provider of the award with over 10,000 people walking through their doors. Some of the following impacts were recorded by the research - Arts Council England funded project :-
Marketing for the Apna Heritage Archive an exhibition curated by Anand Chhabra and commissioned by Multistory for the Blast! Photo Festival 24th May - 29th June.
Fantastic to know local young Punjabi’s from the region wanting to volunteer and help set the AH exhibition and with signing in visitor arrivals at launch which focuses on their heritage on the Black Country Region.
Anand Chhabra conducts artist talk, exhibtion tour & celebration on the AH archive to over 250 Punjabi’s at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick.
Day group Punjabi lady visitors from West Bromwich arriving for visit to see the archive anther from the artist for a pre arranged visit during the exhibtion.
Fascinated by images from the slide viewers at the exhibition. All slide viewers were focussed on the themes that developed from the archive collection of family images. This one on Punjabi’s first cars and TV’s which were objects that show there integration and beginning of their affluence in the Black Country.
Group photo of the ladies group in our Mock 1970s Selfie Studios…..A fantastic bunch!
Young Punjabi’s learn about their Punjabi heritage through the Apna Heritage Archive classes at Smethwick Gurdwara. So important to that the photo archive teaches the next generation about the early year of Punjabi migration. - ACE Funded
Dudley College Photo Students learn about vernacular images and Punjabi migration 1960s-80s
Dudley Photo Students write about how certain images in Punjabi communities were taken and how to read them.
BCVA help collect more images in Smethwick as a direct result of the BLAST! exhibition. - Arts Council England Funded
An additional 150 images were collected through the research of the AH project - Arts Council England Funded
'Moving to the City' project- Pakistani ladies day centre - Arts Council Funded
As part of Anand Chhabra’s residency one of the chief aims of his residency is to reach out as an ambassador of the HIVE to show to communities that a) does not engage with the arts and secondly b) considers the HIVE and the facilities as not intended for them. Anand took time to build relationship as the Pakistani group makes up the largest ethnicity in the City and began to work with them in a way that appealed to their values namely family. Anand worked with a 20-60s age group and sourcing their vernacular family images and began telling their stories. The result was a scrapbook of images and stories that describe their historical movements from Pakistan to the time they have settled in the City of Worcester. Anand also worked with their youth groups who were interested in photographing and recording a fashion show. Anand challenged them to put away their phones and use film to record their event.
Photographer Maryam Wahid joins Anand Chhabra in engaging the Pakistani ladies group in talking about their parents or their personal journey in moving the City of Worcester. - Arts Council Funded
Amazing images like this ones that speak of their parents working life in the City in the early years of migration.
Vernacular photographs were printed out by Anand to encourage groups to tell write stories of themselves and their journey to the City of Worcester.
As the weeks progress the group began to tell others about the project and many more ladies got involved in bringing their images to share.
Whole albums represent the unseen and untold story of migration to the City. All images were scanned and then used towards creating a single 2D work that would be displayed at the HIVE in Feb 2020.