Memories of migrant women
In 2022 I decided to take a take a break from a 12 year stint of teaching to focus on my own work. This gave me the opportunity to pursue a personal project - recording stories of migrant women through portraiture.
In 2022 I decided to take a take a break from a 12 year stint of teaching to focus on my own work. This gave me the opportunity to pursue a personal project - recording stories of migrant women through portraiture.
I have grown up with stories of my family’s migration from Kenya to the UK in the early 60’s. These stories have always fascinated me. The generation that came here are now in their 70’s and 80’s, I would like to record them before it’s too late.
I have started with my own family - my mother and my mother-in-law. I hope to continue these during this coming year.
I have started with my own family - my mother and my mother-in-law. I hope to continue these during this coming year.
Joginder Kaur
My mother-in-law; she is the kindest and a most gentle person. Always there for us, cooking and washing the dishes.
My mother-in-law; she is the kindest and a most gentle person. Always there for us, cooking and washing the dishes.
My father-in-law arrived here a few years before. The story goes that when she arrived at Heathrow, he was not there to meet her. So a random kind man, who had come to collect his own wife, offered to drop her to the address she had for him in Southall.
When they knocked on the door, the person who answered said ‘oh there’s no one of that name who lives here’. For a split second she was in shock. What to do? Where to go? All alone in a foreign place. Then a voice from behind said ‘there is a man who lives upstairs, it might be him’ Luckily it was him and they were reunited. My father-in-law never did receive the telegraph to say mum had boarded the plane.
Oil on paper 16 x 20 inches
Darshan Kaur
"I get asked whether my whole family is creative. I always say YES! And this is where it all comes from - our mother. She is unbelievably talented - cooking, crochet, sewing, knitting - she’s the queen.
"I get asked whether my whole family is creative. I always say YES! And this is where it all comes from - our mother. She is unbelievably talented - cooking, crochet, sewing, knitting - she’s the queen.
I remember as a child she would buy fabric at the market in the morning, sew a shalwar kameez that afternoon and be wearing it at the Gurdwara the next day, much to the shock and amazement of her friends. And she would giggle in delight seeing their faces.
We walk in the shadow of a giant.”
Oil on paper 16 x 20 inches
