Bengali Britain exhibition. A MMPI – BritBangla collaboration

What does it mean to be British Bengali? How do (inherited) memories of life in East Bengal (later on Bangladesh) and of migration to Britain influence our present? This can be difficult to explain in words, but we all have pictures in our own albums which say something about where we have come from and where we are now.

The following images were part of an exhibition curated by the Partition memory project (MMPI) and BritBangla in 2019. The aim of this collaboration was to open up a conversation on the meaning of British-Bengali identity by exploring personal histories – bringing into view people’s own lived and inherited experiences of historical events (such as the Partitions of Bengal) as well as of migration and settlement in a new country.

This showcase of family photographs bears testimony to the long-standing relationship between Bengali and British life.

Family Photo circa late 1920’s Guwahati, Assam – Bengal Region, British India. The Chowdhury family portrait. Assam early circa 1930s.  Members of the family relocated to Sylhet after the Partition of British India in 1947. Possessions and family treasures for memories were lost through movements across Bengal from Assam to Kulaura, Sylhet and Dhaka; and as then families spread across UK and USA.  

Taryn Khanam
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taryn-k-3759043/

British Indian soldier from Sylhet based in Burma during World War II. Circa 1942.
Tanbir Baeg
Instagram: @bewilde
“1974 Left to right: My mum, her oldest sister, their aunt, my mum’s other older sister, their younger aunt. This picture was taken on Eid in Bangladesh to send over to the family who had recently moved to London. The clothes my mum and her sisters are wearing are made from materials sent from their mother and father in London. The materials are from London but the clothes were made in Bangladesh”
– Adam Hafiz Poland
During the 1970s, at the Commonwealth Institute they used to have exhibitions of Commonwealth Countries […] During the school holidays my mum used to take us as a sort of “holiday trip” and we used to “visit Bangladesh” (Nutun Ahmed)
Instagram: nutunashaa
Twitter: @nutunasha
A visit to Windsor’s Castle. Circa late 1960s (Nutun Ahmed).
Instagram: nutunashaa
Twitter: @nutunasha
Tower Hamlets, East London, early 1980s.
Jahidul Haque.
Director’s office in the British Airways Travel Agency, London during the mid-1990s. “My father was a resistance fighter, and in his office, he always had a picture of Bongobondhu [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]. This photo symbolises many things for men who immigrated from Bangladesh – loyalty to the country, learning English and their passion for cricket!”.  
– Anjuma Choudhury
Family studio portrait, taken before migrating to the UK. Bangladesh, 1974 circa.
Ansar Ahmed Ullah
Twitter: ansarahmedullah
Instagram: Ansar Ahmed Ullah Philip
Henna artwork, London, 2019. Razia Sultana
Twitter: @redhenna_razia
Instagram: @redhenna
Facebook: @redhennaraziasultana

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