Every migrant has ‘a dream’ when they arrive to the city, certainly that’s my lived experience amongst so many people groups now present in the UK. There are many varied reasons as to their arrival and yet all want to seek a better life for themselves and to cherish their children’s future. Its perhaps everyone’s dream arriving to the city.
My father was no different and was promised that England’s streets were paved with gold when he arrived in Wolverhampton in the late 1960s but soon the reality set in shortly before he arrived that infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech by then Wolverhampton MP Enoch Powell.
This exhibition embodies a work that at Arboretum Park in Normanton Derby as part of FORMAT24. It’s a first time that an exhibition has been exhibited here as part of FORMAT. It was ideal for the artist as it’s in the most densely populated area for South Asians in the City and has been historically so since the 1960s. The work in the show has been curated is divided in three parts and shown in this film. Firstly, a look at my parents formative years as well as that of myself and my brother growing up in Wolverhampton. Secondly about the impact of the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech and thirdly the dreams embodied through my father’s passion for Space Exploration and his positive influence on us to have high ideals. The work is set on various visual platforms, family archive, portraits, ephemera photographed under controlled lighting and images the artist labels Dreamscapes. Images not necessarily noticeable but nonetheless laden with meaning.
The space handed to the artist was a challenge to set because of the nature of the room, we wish thank staff at QUAD who handle FORMAT24 and Arboretum Park Orangery for enabling and helping to enable the artists curation. Thanks to ACE for funding the project.