carried histories

2022

This series of interviews were a means to collect the stories of people from the global south, out of encounters I have had whilst exploring east and south London (predominantly multi-cultural migrant spaces- London was built of the labour of immigrants; it is a microcosm of people from everywhere, who hold embodied histories, a city containing many other worlds of people who map and make the city). Conversation became a means to philosophise through various topics.

The encounters I have had that often de/stabilised ideas of familiarity and unfamiliarity, home and strange territory. It made me think of the process-of-becoming, the in-between, learning and unlearning.

01 ︎Black-Market History

A Jamaican man who sells fruit and vegetables at the marketplace gives his insight on Black history, one that you may not find in the books.. he emerged from the stall like a sailor in control of a ship, and the knowledge he held felt a bit like a hidden gem in a marketplace, as he was a treasure trove of stories.

︎

Lewisham Market

51.4622° N, 0.0103° W

02 ︎_The Black Archives : School’s out

I encountered this group of young Black muslim women sitting outside the Black Archives when their class on Black Union Jack (Black British History) had ended. They provided me with an account of their experinces of being young and black in Britain and having to navigate the university space. An education after school’s out. I learned a lot from their experiences of navigating space.

(Image: this is the table where the discussion took place around)

(Trigger Warning: Descriptions of violence and mental health problems. You can play the first 20 minutess if needed to get a feel of the conversation).

︎

The Black Archives

51.461038184170334 N,
-0.1147149 W

03 Variations of home

︎_Iftar

I was sitting next to a Gambian and Morroccan student after breaking fast at a restaurant in Whitechapel. We talked about loopholes in citizenship, our country’s politics, food and queerness.

:

︎ Better Than Nandos?

The store keeper took a few minutes to talk to me on work time, we were talking about Brazillian restaurants and the origin of Nandos. His work phone and the shop alarm to tend to customers kept reminding us we were on borrowed time for the conversation...

︎_ Nollywood Puts Me To Sleep

Talking to a business analysist who works two jobs that he doesn’t have time to watch TV.

︎_(I am a Wire Technician As Well)

A storekeeper at the marketplace took the time to talk to me about his sense of community...

︎

Various locations

51.5148° N, 0.0651° W

04 ︎ The Battle of Algiers

This interview was conducted at The Royal Buffet, outside Goldsmiths. When I asked to interview the owner of the store, who was born 9 years after the Algerian Revolution, he told me to watch The Battle of Algiers, which served as a premise to this conversation. He narrates a bit of the story and an account of why he moved from Algeria, and how France made a Royal Buffet of North Africa.

(Image: Buffet Time at The Royal Buffet)

︎

The Royal Buffet

51.4755° N, 0.0367° W