Having been commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to work on the Citizen UK Researchers project to help document Punjabi Migration Experiences in the city. Anand has been working to collect oral histories stroies by trainig researcher volunteers and also creating a number of portraits. One of the results is that we managed to pull of getting an interview from the celebrated Times columnist and award winning author for the acclaimed book ‘Empireland’. Both Sathnam and his mother Surjit were interviewed by CR UK team member Dalbero and Anand. Anand replicated the portrait from a family photograph dear to Sathnam and on the cover of his inaugral work of migration and growing up in Wolverhampton ‘The boy with the top knot’ where he stands with his mum in the garden. The exhibition of all the amazing participants showcasing their oral histories and portraits from the researchers group will be showing in May 2023 at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Celebrated Times columnist Sathnam Sanghera and mum Surjit at her home. Surjit holds a portrait of herself at the time she first migrated to the UK. Sathnam holds his award winning book (best non-fiction book for the Book seller awards) winning author Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain' © Anand Chhabra
Citizen UK Volunteer working Dalbero Kaur takes the lead in interviewing Sathnam Sanghera at his mum’s house for the forthcoming exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Photograph ©Anand Chhabra