Evewright Arts Foundation (EAF) is a not for profit voluntary community organisation. We are passionate to seek out, find and preserve valuable untold stories from marginalised Black communities and present them in informal settings in an innovative and engaging way bringing hard to reach young and older generations together. We value the importance of our community telling their stories in their own voice.
NEW WORKS : NEW FUTURE
'Belongings: Windrush 75'
Art, Film & Performance Installation
Evewright Arts Foundation (EAF) is delighted to announce Belongings: Windrush 75 as part of Windrush 75th anniversary celebrations, made possible thanks to National Lottery players through a National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant.
EAF is hosting an art and film installation over a 36-hour continuous period from Saturday through to Sunday to mark the period the passengers on the Empire Windrush had to wait before disembarking at Tilbury in 1948. EAF will present a curated programme of art films screened in the original Grade II listed ticket hall. The programme will include two new film works directed by artist EVEWRIGHT including Motherless Child and Here I Stand, both exploring the resilience, identity, and determination of a generation, along with The Movement of the People a Dance film by Phoenix Dance Theatre, selected films from local artists as well as a new film created by young people from Gateway Learning Community schools in Tilbury and a live performance.
The presentation of film works will also include photographs, sound and words, along with images of the Empire Windrush original passenger list for an immersive experience with headphones throughout the weekend. A DJ set featuring the influence of music over the 75 years will be played during the Saturday evening segment. This curated programme take place at London International Cruise Terminal in Tilbury from Saturday 24 June 12 pm through to Sunday 25th June 6pm and is free and open to all to attend. The public are invited to attend in (optional) period costume. Food stalls will be available.
Belongings: Windrush 75 commemorates and celebrate the peoples of the Windrush Generation and the talents of descendants who have contributed to British society over the past 75 years. It is a sound and vision experience that offers a unique opportunity to deepen the specific discussion on how the presence of the Windrush generation and their descendants has shaped the recent history of Britain. It’s an art installation based on the themes of migration, identity and settlement conveyed through interviews with elders, descendants, reflections, sound, song, and visual projections. The project takes place at London International Cruise Terminal in Tilbury Port in Essex as part of Windrush 75 Anniversary commemorations.
Tilbury Port is an iconic location which has an historic significance to the black community in Britain. This artwork is a unique statement memorialising the lives of those people who came from the Caribbean who carried their British passports proudly as British citizens with hope and expectation. They passed through this location as one of the original walkways where SS Empire Windrush passengers, in 1948 arrived. Although many arrived before 1948, those that arrived here were the first large post war wave of British colonial citizens to disembark from the passenger ship at Tilbury Cruise Terminal.
“We are delighted to be hosting this important event during Windrush 75th anniversary year as we value the importance of our community telling their stories in their own voices.” Artist and Curator EVEWRIGHT
For the latest information please visit: www.evewrightarts.org
Public Opening Times.
24 - 25th June 12 pm Saturday - Sunday 6pm
Admission is free. Booking registration opens in May 2023.
Location:
Tilbury International Cruise Terminal Essex RM18 7NJ
The site is accessible by Car, Bus, Ferry and train. The nearest train station: Tilbury Town. A special shuttle bus will operate over the weekend from Tilbury Town train station to the Terminal.
CARIBBEAN TAKEAWAY TAKEOVER: IDENTITIES AND STORIES POP-UP EXHIBITION. AT THE MIGRATION MUSEUM LONDON | 30 MAY - 30 JUNE 2019
For a limited time only, the inspired art and sound installation Caribbean Takeaway Takeover: Identities and Stories pop-up exhibition will be at the Migration Museum in London 30th May - 30th June 2019. The programme will include a Caribbean Activity day and spoken word event on the 22nd June as part of the countrywide Windrush Day celebrations. An education workshop will be programmed and on 27th June an Artist Talk will be held as part of the Museum’s TalkART Lates series. This project is in partnership with the Migration Museum and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
The installation features limited edition photo etchings of twelve Windrush Generation elders produced by Artist EVEWRIGHT along with audio interviews complied by his team at Evewright Arts Foundation (EAF). The art installation is an immersive experience with walls and table tops covered in vinyl’s with photographs and documents of participants to reflect their lives and memories. This pop-up exhibition will take place at the migration museum in Lambeth.
The Caribbean take away is an important cultural meeting place in the Caribbean community. A home from home, the kitchen is where meals are prepared, but also where stories are exchanged and shared. Going back to African roots, cooking and the Dutch pot or cooking pot was the central place for the family activity. The takeaway has just as much cultural importance as the barbershop and the hairdressing salon for black communities living and working in the UK. S&S Caribbean Takeaway in Essex was the original takeover location for the art installation which will now be brought to London at the migration museum.
The Breathing space café at the museum will be taken over, repurposed and transformed into an art installation where sound recordings of these Windrush Pioneers will be played throughout the day. Listen to Alford Gardner’s experience on the Empire Windrush in 1948, hear how these elders tackled racism, and how through their perseverance and resilience they were able to overcome barriers to make a life in Britain and the impact they have made on Britain today.
One of our Windrush elders who took part in the project said.
“This is an excellent idea to keep history alive. Black people need to know where they come from, to help them to move forward.” Carol Sydney.
Visitors will be encouraged to commemorate their own parent’s arrival by adding their own stories to passport postcards on our memorial wall.
Or comment online at
Further information
For further information, images of selected photo etchings and for interviews please contact Ionie Richards Email: ionie@evewrightstudio.com or Tel: +44 (0) 8450 542 305
Evewright Art Foundation Studio 204, High House Artist Studios, Artisan Way, Purfleet, Essex, RM19 1TT. visit our website http://www.evewright.com/eaf
Follow us on twitter @evewrightstudio
THE PROJECT
Evewright Arts Foundation (EAF) decided to take over and appropriate the only Caribbean owned takeaway in Colchester Essex in June 2018 in order to create an exciting art and sound installation to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the landing of the SS Empire Windrush in Tilbury Essex in June 1948.
Ten selected Caribbean elders who arrived in the UK between the 1940’s-1960’s
volunteered to share their stories with the public using voice and sound recordings. Their stories revealed their journeys, their lives in Britain today, the impact of their contribution to British society and the legacy they will each leave behind.
volunteered to share their stories with the public using voice and sound recordings. Their stories revealed their journeys, their lives in Britain today, the impact of their contribution to British society and the legacy they will each leave behind.
Artist EVEWRIGHT created a further intervention in the takeaway café space creating
special limited-edition portraits of the participants using photo etching as a medium. This project, Caribbean Takeaway Takeover Identities and Stories, was displayed in a free exhibition which was open to the public at S&S Caribbean Café Takeaway, a working café, and focus for the black community in Colchester.
special limited-edition portraits of the participants using photo etching as a medium. This project, Caribbean Takeaway Takeover Identities and Stories, was displayed in a free exhibition which was open to the public at S&S Caribbean Café Takeaway, a working café, and focus for the black community in Colchester.
The space was taken over, repurposed and transformed into art installation where sound recordings of the elder’s stories were played throughout the day during the project period. The takeaway continued to function as an eatery allowing visitors an opportunity to sample Caribbean cuisine. The installation remained in situ for a further month.
OUTCOME
This was an art and sound installation of stories from ten Caribbean elders that went on display at S&S Caribbean Takeaway, 39 St John Street Colchester this summer. A private view took place on the 21 June 2018 and the opening weekend took place on the Saturday 23 to Sunday 24 th June 2018.
See latest BBC Video interview
BBC News East interviewed Lenore Sykes one of the elder who participated in the art and sound installation and EVEWRIGHT the Creative Director & Artist. Hear them speak about their experiences on the links below:
EAF recruited volunteers to assist in the project and ten elders were interviewed. Each
recording was edited to provide ten x 10-minute extracts which was played over a 2-hour period on the opening Saturday 23 June and daily thereafter. An extended 30 minutes longer version was played over 5 hours on Sunday 24 June of the opening weekend.
recording was edited to provide ten x 10-minute extracts which was played over a 2-hour period on the opening Saturday 23 June and daily thereafter. An extended 30 minutes longer version was played over 5 hours on Sunday 24 June of the opening weekend.
Ten photo-etchings were produced by creative director Artist Evewright (Everton Wright) of each of the participants and innovative wall and table vinyls produced to capture the past and present lives of each elder to make the café an immersive living archive.
EAF also created passport postcards which visitors to the installation filled in and posted their migration stories to a memory board in the café. These will also be shared online. This was a very popular activity and tool for sharing stories.
A further special elders’ luncheon was held on the 26 th June 2018 to celebrate participants and other invited elders of the Windrush Generation. The installation was due to end on the 22 July 2018 but due to the level of interest the exhibition stayed open for an additional week which ended on the 29 th July 2018.
Why the project was located in a Caribbean Takeaway
The Caribbean take away is an important cultural meeting place in the Caribbean
community. A home from home, the kitchen is where meals are prepared, but also where stories are exchanged and shared. Going back to African roots, cooking and the Dutch pot or cooking pot was the central place for the family activity. The takeaway has just as much cultural importance as the barbershop and the hairdressing salon for black communities living and working in the UK. This was the first time such an exhibition was hosted in this unique setting giving a platform to people whose untold stories could be shared with the wider community. This was very successful attracting many people including hard to reach members of the public who would not have gone to a formal setting such as a gallery or a dedicated space to see the installation.
community. A home from home, the kitchen is where meals are prepared, but also where stories are exchanged and shared. Going back to African roots, cooking and the Dutch pot or cooking pot was the central place for the family activity. The takeaway has just as much cultural importance as the barbershop and the hairdressing salon for black communities living and working in the UK. This was the first time such an exhibition was hosted in this unique setting giving a platform to people whose untold stories could be shared with the wider community. This was very successful attracting many people including hard to reach members of the public who would not have gone to a formal setting such as a gallery or a dedicated space to see the installation.
Further information
For images of selected photo etchings and for interviews please contact Ionie Richards Email: ionie@evewrightstudio.com or Tel: +44 (0) 8450 542 305
