Exhibition: Caribbean Takeaway Takeover at the Migration Museum
An interactive pop-up art and sound installation exhibition showcasing the stories of Windrush generation elders by artist Evewright will take place at the Migration Museum in Lambeth High Street.
Caribbean Takeaway Takeover focuses on the Caribbean takeaway restaurant as an important cultural meeting place in the Caribbean community.
From May 30 to June 30, the Breathing Space Café at the Migration Museum will be taken over, repurposed and transformed into an art installation featuring limited-edition photo etchings of 12 Windrush generation elders produced by Evewright, along with audio interviews and sound recordings of these Windrush pioneers compiled by his team at Evewright Arts Foundation.
It will be an immersive experience, with walls and table tops covered in vinyls, photographs and documents of participants to reflect their lives and memories.
Visitors will be encouraged to commemorate their own parent’s arrival by adding their own stories to passport postcards on our memorial wall or online.
Evewright said: “This work is about the sharing, celebrating and preservation of our stories and history. Art is a good way of ensuring the stories of these pioneers from the Windrush generation are remembered.
Their presence has left a legacy and impact on future generations and British society as a whole.
“This installation is informative, educational and immersive and I am delighted to see how it engages a diverse range of people to experience and enjoy.”
Project producer Ionie Richards said: “It was a rewarding experience for us to record the lives of ordinary but extraordinary people from the Windrush generation most were in their 80s or 90s.
This installation will help raise awareness and bring to new audiences’ first-hand accounts of untold stories of a disappearing generation before it is lost.
“It includes stories from passengers who arrived in the UK on HMS Almansora in 1947 and SS Empire Windrush in 1948.
“As a legacy of this project these audio stories are preserved by Essex Record Office to share with the public.”
The programme will include a Caribbean Activity day and spoken-word event on Saturday, June 22 as part of nationwide Windrush Day celebrations.