Chronicles Of A Forgotten Black Britain

Vanessa Jubey is carried back in time by a photo exhibition in Shoreditch.

Click on any image for the slide show.

 

Autograph ABP’s exhibition entitled Black Chronicles II explores Britain’s black history through over 200 studio photographs, the majority of which has never been exhibited before.

Many of the pictures – all taken before 1938 – reveal a different side of Victorian England, and give an insight into the often overlooked lives of people brought into Britain as a result of its vast empire.

Housed over two rooms, the work includes a captivating set of sepia photographs of the African Choir who toured Britain between 1891 and 1893. The rest of the exhibition includes portraits of royalty, clergymen, musicians, circus ‘freaks’ and an array of unknown sitters.

Playing in the background are audio extracts from a keynote speech about archives and cultural memory given by the Jamaican-born cultural theorist Stuart Hall, who died in February.

Black Chronicles II is at Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA until 29 November. Telephone 020 7729 9200

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