ARTIST EVEWRIGHT will create a unique outdoor installation
Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories at Tilbury Cruise Terminal Essex in honour of the Windrush Generation.

Images and documents installed on 552 panes of glass representing the lives of Windrush pioneers and their descendants will be hosted on the bridge, creating a “memory walk”.

Tilbury Cruise Terminal is significant because it where those who arrived in the UK onboard the SS Empire Windrush in 1948 disembarked. 

The installation will be staged between September and October 2020 to tie in with Black History Month.

It features a soundscape of new and existing audio stories that visitors can download on to their devices using QR codes. The Tilbury Bridge installation will be used as a back drop to a series of live performances from selected artistic practitioners curated by EVEWRIGHT.

The theme of ‘Transition for renewal’ will be explored through experimental drawing, sound, movement, and words. 

Caribbean elders were once the key workers that kept the National Health Service, public transport and the factories working, roles which many of their descendants now fill. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prominence of black Britons in key worker roles has sadly seen a significant losses in the community as a result of the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus.

EAF creative artistic director Everton Wright, known as EVEWRIGHT, said: “It is a delight to continue the development of our Caribbean Takeaway Takeover series. Over the past three years we have put a spotlight on the lives of our Windrush elders and will continue to collect and tell their stories and those of their descendants particularly in this unusual period of the COVID-19 pandemic which brings its own challenges.

“My dear mother Clarice Agatha Reid a Windrush elder who took part in the installation with her stories, passed away in April. It is a timely reminder that it’s more important than ever that we preserve our elders’ stories, before they are gone, to commemorate their legacy and their contribution to British Society.”

Share your stories

Families of the Windrush generation will be invited to submit an image of their parents, grandparents or elders taken between the 1950s-1970s depicting key moments, such as weddings and christenings, or paraphernalia including passports or photographs in their work uniforms.

The hi-resolution images should be sent with 50 words including the name of the person pictured or whom the items pictured belong to, and their career. These images will form part of the artist’s installation on the bridge so that their lives of the Windrush generation can be commemorated.

The call out will be launched online on Windrush Day, 22 June.

For advanced information on how you can submit your images please send an email to [email protected]