Blast! Photo Festival took place in the summer of 2019 through a series of talks and walks by 40 commissioned artists by Multistory. Anand was commissioned to bring a new curation of the acclaimed Apna Heritage Archive to the BC region, something that Black Country Arts was keen to achieve. The work was constructed and exhibited at Smethwick Gurdwara (historically set as Britain’s first ever Gurdwara) it was a great venue for the exhibition and the archive was very well received by the leaders at GNG Smethwick Humraj and Jatinder and the committee. The Gurdwara won the Duke of Edingburgh Award as licensed centre and became the largest provider of the award with over 10,000 people walking through their doors. Some of the following impacts were recorded by the research - Arts Council England funded project :-
Marketing for the Apna Heritage Archive an exhibition curated by Anand Chhabra and commissioned by Multistory for the Blast! Photo Festival 24th May - 29th June.
Fantastic to know local young Punjabi’s from the region wanting to volunteer and help set the AH exhibition and with signing in visitor arrivals at launch which focuses on their heritage on the Black Country Region.
Anand Chhabra conducts artist talk, exhibtion tour & celebration on the AH archive to over 250 Punjabi’s at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick.
Day group Punjabi lady visitors from West Bromwich arriving for visit to see the archive anther from the artist for a pre arranged visit during the exhibtion.
Fascinated by images from the slide viewers at the exhibition. All slide viewers were focussed on the themes that developed from the archive collection of family images. This one on Punjabi’s first cars and TV’s which were objects that show there integration and beginning of their affluence in the Black Country.
Group photo of the ladies group in our Mock 1970s Selfie Studios…..A fantastic bunch!
Young Punjabi’s learn about their Punjabi heritage through the Apna Heritage Archive classes at Smethwick Gurdwara. So important to that the photo archive teaches the next generation about the early year of Punjabi migration. - ACE Funded
Dudley College Photo Students learn about vernacular images and Punjabi migration 1960s-80s
Dudley Photo Students write about how certain images in Punjabi communities were taken and how to read them.
BCVA help collect more images in Smethwick as a direct result of the BLAST! exhibition. - Arts Council England Funded
An additional 150 images were collected through the research of the AH project - Arts Council England Funded