My mother tells me that she bought this ornament when she was pregnant with my older sister Bev.
She saw it as she walked through the Fountain Arcade in Dudley, and knew that she had to have it.
This was in a time when sometimes shopkeepers would look through customers who looked like her, to serve the white ones who were behind her.
A time, only a few years after, gangs of white youths had roamed through the streets of Dudley looking for Black people to attack.
The Dudley 'race riots', as the national newspapers would call them, were long ago now. Yet, perhaps the ways in which people tell you that you are not wanted have now only become more sophisticated, hidden, and institutionalised.
Please join me for the launch of 'From a Small Island
Friday, May 4th, 6pm at, and generously supported by, @mac_birmingham
The exhibition continues until
July 8th
@AutographABP
2018 @lightworkorg programe that enabled the making of prints on show.
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#fromasmallisland #windrush #windrush70 #windrushgeneration #dudley #race #riots #fountainarcade #caribbean #diaspora #lightworkAIR #memory #family #history #windrushlegacy
#family #photography #exhibition #migration #jamaica #pregnancy #SundayRead #SpotlightSunday
