BCVA is pleased to announce that artist and director Anand Chhabra has been commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) to work on the Citizen UK Researchers project, exploring the history and experiences of Punjabi migration to Wolverhampton.
The project brings together a group of volunteer researchers with a shared interest in documenting the stories of Punjabi communities in the city. Wolverhampton is home to around 40,000 people of Punjabi heritage, and the project provides an important opportunity to record and celebrate the journeys, contributions and lived experiences of this community.
Developed in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the project will combine community research, oral history interviews and photographic portraiture. Anand has been working closely with the volunteer researchers, providing training in archival research methods and oral history interviewing to support the collection of personal stories connected to migration and settlement in the city.
As lead artist, Anand will help shape the artistic direction of the project, including the development of an exhibition that will present both oral histories and newly commissioned photographic portraits of key individuals whose stories reflect the wider migration experience.
The project also brings together a number of creative collaborators, including Wolverhampton’s Poet Laureate. Kuli Kohli an acclaimed poet and the first disabled South Asian woman to hold the role, will contribute poetry inspired by the stories and experiences gathered through the research process.
Through this collaboration between artists, researchers and community participants, the project aims to create a meaningful cultural record of Punjabi migration to Wolverhampton and highlight the significant contributions of these communities to the life of the city.
Citizen UK Researchers present work on mind mapping a few of their stories on Punjabi Migration to the City and by working through research, outputs and outcomes. Workshop conducted by BCVA director Anand Chhabra © Anand Chhabra