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CAPTURING HISTORY: Vanley Burke

IT’S BEEN called a cabinet of curiosities, but Vanley Burke’s incredible exhibition at a leading Birmingham gallery is not just about his own existence, but that of an entire community.

The contents of Burke’s ninth floor flat in Nechells – from saucepans and golliwog dolls to African tribal masks – has been reassembled at the Ikon Gallery and it offers a fascinating glimpse of untold black British history.

Each room has been faithfully recreated at the Brindleyplace gallery, offering visitors the chance to walk through Burke’s life – literally – while listening to some of his favourite Jim Reeves records.

The exhibition shows that Jamaican-born Burke is more than one of the most important black British photographers – he’s also an archivist who has preserved the world of the Windrush migrants for future generations.

PAINFUL PAST: A slave restraint

“History is part of a lived experience – it’s not just about the academic stuff,” explains Burke as he sits at his kitchen table, now in the Ikon, surrounded by his books and record collections.

“It’s the little dolls, the little things you see, so insignificant, so kitsch, but they contain so much information about how people lived. All these ordinary items explain our history – an immigrant history that otherwise might be forgotten.”

It’s a coup for Ikon director Jonathan Watkins, who had seen the significance of Burke’s treasure trove of a flat ages ago.

“I’ve always had this dream of being able to show Vanley’s whole flat as an exhibition, but didn’t say anything for ages,” Watkins said. “Then, when I finally asked him, he immediately said ‘yes’!

SCRIPTURES: A jacket made from Bible pages

“The archival items are like photographs in that they are indexical traces of human presence, countless pieces of evidence of actual experience. The collection of them suggests insurance against certain memories being lost.

He continues: “Each item is evocative of an evolving spirit of a time, lived through by the artist, that embodies hope as much as fear, feelings of alienation as much as celebration, active resistance and demands for equal opportunity, as much as the enjoyment of new adventures.

“The collection as a whole is thus greater than the sum of its parts and extremely poignant.”

Burke, being a deeply non-materialistic person, was more than happy to hand over his hoard for the benefit of others. Ultimately, he would like it to form part of an African Caribbean cultural archive in the Midlands.

Some items are from his own family, while other pieces have been donated by friends or collected from second hand shops.

“I know the flat is my home – I’ve lived there since 1997,” says Burke. “But it’s also an archive and a gallery. People who come to the flat have been saying for years that I should open it up as a gallery. As a photographer my world has always been open to public gaze.”

However, now he admits his empty flat has become “a bit echoey,” adding that he’s surrounded by flat packs from Ikea as substitute furniture during the three-month exhibition.

Many of his iconic photographs from the 1970s and 80s are also displayed at the Ikon, recording the everyday routines of that Windrush generation – in church, in the hairdressers, in the park and at street protests.

BRITISH PRIDE: A youngster strikes a pose in Handsworth Park, Birmingham in 1970

A look of pride sweeps across his face when he adds: “The man down at the shop the other day said to me: ‘If it wasn’t for your photographs I wouldn’t be able to tell my kids about my history.’ That to me is priceless.”

But perhaps most important of all is the reaction from visitors to the gallery. Reverend Canon Eve Pitts, who was at the launch, told Life & Style: “I feel as if I have gone back to my mother’s home. I want to touch everything because I feel it belongs to me.

“It has connected me to the past and sparked memories of home and my mother. It gives a real sense of spiritual connection.”

That indeed is priceless.

Vanley Burke’s exhibition runs at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham until September 27. For more information visit www.ikon-gallery.org

[PHOTO CREDITS: All photos taken by Harry Goldenfeld, except black and white image, which was taken by Vanley Burke]