A Greenwich-based social enterprise has launched an intergenerational cultural exhibition archiving the personal histories of underrepresented minority groups within Wandsworth.
Hosted in Wandsworth Library, the exhibition called We Are Somebody, which has been organised by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), has preserved over 50 years of Afro-Caribbean and South Asian heritage through pairing older volunteers with young creatives to orally collect their lived experiences.
We are Somebody features a range of older people explaining the hardships and cultural shocks they faced when migrating to Wandsworth.
Creative researcher, Shiza Naveed, was drawn to the project’s aim to diversify archives which she believes are “too white and too colonial”.
“Archiving is important because we shouldn’t ever forget our histories and the context we come from. To live divorced from our heritage is to not have an understanding of where we’re going,” she said.
Shiza and her collaborator, Parnika Shriyan, chose to interview two South Asian women — both named Amtul — in Urdu, while drinking chai together to create a more accessible conversation for their ‘elders’.
The pair focused on South Asian women specifically to raise awareness on how they “face patriarchy and Islamophobia”.
The name of the exhibition was chosen after a conversation between women from the Caribbean and Sri Lanka detailed how they were required to ask for permission to use the restroom while at work.
The women spoke of being overlooked for jobs because of their names being harder to pronounce which Thembe Mvula, the youth participation officer who organised the event, believes “we still recognise now.”
Mvula spoke about the importance of preserving these stories in the wake of the pandemic since many older people died without their experiences being “captured”.
Mvula said: “Wandsworth has a very young and mixed cultural population as well as being a safe hub for refugees.
“What is a better way to nourish communities than remembering the older generations who have fed into who we are now.”
Wandsworth is the 2025 recipient of the Mayor of London Borough of Culture funding which Thembe believes is a recognition of the diversity within the borough.
Through the funding, the We are Somebody project paid participants for their work.
The We are Somebody exhibition will be available in Wandsworth Library until December and all of the personal history that was gathered will be added to Wandsworth’s archives.
Featured image: We are Somebody exhibition at Wandsworth Library. Credit: Maxine Brigue
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