Ridley Road Stories Part 2
Future Hackney
Mare Street, Hackney
© the artist. Photo credit: Tracy Jenkins / Art UK. original photos Wayne Crichlow and Don Travis / Future Hackney
A street exhibition documenting and celebrating the African and Caribbean locals on Ridley Road and Gillett Square by Future Hackney, a long-term project that documents social change in East London. Local visual storytellers work alongside residents to create a living archive of a rapidly changing East London.
This exhibition is a collaboration with Hackney’s Windrush initiative commissioned by Create London and features the installation of large format images as an exterior gallery in East London.
Describing the project, Future Hackney says: 'Working at the intersections of photography and social engagement we develop relationships with those involved encourage them to express wider societal experiences such as mental health, exclusion, confinement and being non-binary as it relates to the African and Caribbean experience. In some cases we also guide those involved in taking their own photographs.
'As a participatory arts project Ridley Road Stories continues to document black lives in Dalston, encouraging those involved to share and archive their own histories. We combine documentary, street portraits and co-authorship to create a hybrid genre of photographic storytelling and produce outdoor exhibitions that are inclusive. It is our belief that the visual arts should be on the streets for everyone. We increasingly recognise exterior public art spaces as "the new gallery".'