Discover how the Windrush generation and their descendants made Birmingham their home in a new free exhibition at the Back to Backs
Discover the stories of the Windrush generation and their descendants in Birmingham through a free exhibition at the Back to Backs, in a new collaboration between the Mykal Wassifa Brown Heritage Foundation, Blackstory Partnership and the National Trust.
This week sees the launch of a new exhibition at the much-loved citycentre attraction named ‘Home from Home: Wassifa’s 50th Anniversary at Birmingham Back to Backs’. Launching as part of the city’s Windrush Day celebrations, the exhibition will replicate Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown’s childhood home in Handsworth and will explore ideas around home and identity through the West Indian front room and African Caribbean back room.
The front and back rooms were first featured in an exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2016. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wassifa, the new exhibition at the Back to Backs will also feature a 1970s/80s back room, which will tell the story of Wassifa Soundsystem and how Mykal and his friends came together to celebrate and explore their heritage.
Mykal has been a driving force behind Wassifa Soundsystem since its inception. In 1972 when they were around 12 years old, he and a group of friends got together to share and listen to Jamaican music and Wassifa Soundsystem was born.
Mykal, Chief Executive Officer at Wassifa, said; “Soundsystems are a big part of Jamaican culture. They’re about a group of people coming together, MCs, DJs and engineers, to play the music that resonates with them. We created Wassifa Soundsystem because we wanted to learn about our culture and share the music coming from Jamaica.
“We weren’t taught positive things about our heritage at school, it was all about us being a nation that was enslaved. But the music coming from Jamaica was telling us about our culture, our identity, the positive things about Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X, it was embracing everything that was important and giving us the inspiration to say we can become something. So that’s what we wanted to share with the sound we were creating, that positivity.”
Over its 50-year history, Wassifa has influenced music and fashion and more recently has become a community and heritage organisation, inspiring young people, celebrating their African Caribbean heritage and ensuring the stories of their community are recorded.
Mykal continued; “It means a lot working with the National Trust as an organisation which is so well-respected in the UK. Working with the Back to Backs and the National Trust is a great opportunity for the exhibition to be recognised through their platforms. It’s a good space to be in and I feel like the future is hopeful.
“What I want people to take away from visiting ‘Home from Home’ is that we have more similarities than differences. We might look different on the outside, but we are all people and, in this city, we are all Brummies.
“This exhibition is representing home from home, it’s exploring what home means and it’s sharing what it meant to us. It’s about presenting objects that we grew up with which are the same as what other families and cultures would have. I hope people visit and recognise things their parents or grandparents used to have at home as well as experiencing our culture and stories.”
The Birmingham Back to Backs share the stories of 200 years of working people’s lives in the heart of the city. The houses re-open on 23 June following essential building repairs. Alongside the much-loved volunteer-led guided tours are some new additions to the visitor offer, including a second-hand bookshop, and new spaces that will feature a changing programme of events and exhibitions.
Hannah Gidley, General Manager at the Back to Backs, said; “Working in partnership with Wassifa on this exhibition has been inspiring and joyful. It gives us the opportunity to tell the stories of working people from the African Caribbean community in Birmingham in addition to those already told on our guided tours.
“Birmingham is an incredibly diverse city; we want to use this exhibition space to celebrate the contributions of all the different communities that make it such a special place to live and work.
“When we add the stories of more communities into our visitor offer, we are enriching the historical record for future generations and increasing access to heritage for more people. Set against the backdrop of the Commonwealth Games, now is the perfect time to focus on the stories of the Windrush generation and their descendants’ experiences in Birmingham.”
The exhibition has been funded by the John Feeney Charitable Trust, William A Cadbury Charitable Trust and Geoff Hill Charitable Trust. ‘Home from Home’ will be open to the public from 23 June until 29 October and will also feature events as part of the programme.
The Back to Backs will also reopen fully to the public on 23 June, with visitors able to begin booking guided tours from that date. To experience the full guided tour visitors must book in advance through the Back to Backs website.
Entry to ‘Home from Home’ and the second-hand bookshop is free of charge and does not need to be booked. To learn more about the Back to Backs or to book a tour, please visit their website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/birmingham-back-to-backs
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