Photographs tell stories of Punjabi immigrants in a central England city
CHANDIGARH: Anand Chhabra, 45, born to a first generation Punjabi immigrant couple in Wolverhampton, has been involved in a unique project of archiving Punjabi migration to the city through 2,000 photographs collected by him from the families.
He is in the city for an audiovisual presentation of these everyday snapshots, which tell of the dreams and aspirations of a displaced people, at the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi on Wednesday.
The presentation is titled ‘Punjabi migration to Wolverhampton: A photographic journey 1960-89’.
Chhabra, a photographer himself, is the founder chairperson of the Black Country Visual Arts, which he set up in 2014 to connect to immigrants not engaging with the arts. This project was titled Apna Heritage Archives.
Chhabra says, “After London, Wolverhampton has the largest population of Punjabis. There are 40,000 Punjabis living here. I felt it was important to record their stories and what could be better than building an archive of photographs because each frame tells many stories.”
The project ran for two years from January 2016 to January 2018 and an exhibition was held there this March.
Talking of his father’s immigration, he says: “My father’s craving to travel to a foreign land brought him here. The UK government had invited immigrants to work in the Black Country factories. So he toiled hard like many others who did all kinds of jobs that the people here would not and came up the hard way through sheer Punjabi determination.”
He adds all this should be remembered and recorded lest anyone forgets.
The photos also tell the small joys and happy moments in a life far away from home like cooking a desi meal, frolicking in the streets, celebrating a new purchase or going out shopping.
The talk that accompanies the visuals by Chhabra in the city will also feature individual stories to provide a context to the photos.
The Apna Heritage Archives are in the process of being digitalised so that the present generation has easy access.
Chhabra says, “The project has a strong educational element, including local schools (and the teaching of photography) and Wolverhampton University. We noted the involvement of a gurdwara, the city council and others, as well as the supportive role of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It is great to see HLF becoming more involved in community archives, and we hope that this presages a more strategic approach to the sector.”
CHHABRA IS THE BRAIN BEHIND THE UNIQUE PROJECT OF ARCHIVING PUNJABI MIGRATION TO WOLVERHAMPTON; THE SHOW OPENS IN CHANDIGARH TOMORROW