Contrary Life

Contrary Life is a website covering quirky events across the UK.

  • Home
  • About
  • Events by region
    • North East
    • North West
    • Yorkshire
    • East Midlands
    • West Midlands
    • East
    • London
    • South East
    • South West
    • Scotland
    • Northern Ireland
    • Wales
Home > Exhibition > An exhibition in a home away from home

An exhibition in a home away from home

By Caroline King - January 17, 2019Posted in : Classes & Workshops, Exhibition, FEATURED-STORIES, Food & Drink

Photo of the India Club, Courtesy of Jake Tilson

The India Club (Photo: courtesy of Jake Tilson)

When: 30th January – 1st March 2019

Where: The India Club, 143 Strand, London WC1R 1JA

£: The exhibition is free of charge but tickets are required. There is a fee for the special events

What is it?

The National Trust’s A Home Away from Home: The India Club is a site-specific exhibition that shines a light on the rich social history of this iconic club on the Strand.

The exhibition showcases the significance of the India Club as an important meeting point and community space, initially for migrants arriving from the Indian subcontinent, and gradually spreading to a wider intellectual community.

Originally located at 41 Craven Street before moving to 143 Strand, the India Club is perhaps best known for its links with the India League, with founding members such as Krishna Menon, the first Indian High Commissioner to the UK, President Nehru and Lady Mountbatten.

As well as having one of the UK’s early Indian restaurants, the India Club quickly became an important hub for a rapidly growing British South Asian community in the aftermath of Indian independence and partition, making it an important site for understanding how the Indian diaspora in the UK established itself as an integral part of British culture and society.

Photo of the India Club bar, courtesy of the India Club

The India Club bar (Photo: courtesy of the India Club)

Virtually unchanged for over 50 years, the India Club is a unique space that acts as a vibrant hub for a range of Anglo-Indian organisations and an extended community of journalists, writers, artists, academics and students who regularly meet there.  Recently, this vital space has come under threat from potential redevelopment.

This audio-based exhibition will provide visitors with the opportunity to intimately engage with the intangible heritage found at 143 Strand, offering a glimpse into the lived experiences of those who considered the Club a ‘home-away-from-home’, from the late 1950s to the present day.

The exhibition comes at a particularly poignant moment, following an extensive campaign and petition signed by over 26,000 people to prevent the redevelopment of the India Club.

A Home Away from Home is a small immersive exhibition based around a newly-formed and fascinating archive of oral history interviews carried out by National Trust volunteers. These give voice to a wide variety of people connected with the India Club, from freedom fighters and descendants of its founding members, to former staff, BBC reporters who worked in nearby Bush House, and artists and writers.

Wedding Day of Joeseph Gyanapraksan (head waiter at the India Club). India Club. 17th September 1966. Courtesy of David Joeseph

Wedding Day of Joeseph Gyanapraksan (head waiter at the India Club) in 1966 (Photo: courtesy of David Joeseph)

Following the exhibition, these rich oral histories will be permanently housed at the British Library. The National Trust are also working with Chocolate Films to produce a short documentary on the India Club to ensure the legacy of this new research.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of supper clubs, artist talks, screenings and conversations that will contextualise the project within the wider history of South Asian migration in the UK and the changing landscape of London’s highstreets and city centre.

Collaborators will include the Migration Museum, Chocolate Films, Comfort Food Stories, Migrateful, and artist collective Specular Assembly.

More info: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Related Posts

  • Exhibition finds beauty in forgotten and discarded items
  • The King's Army is on the march in London
  • Where to celebrate Burns Night in London
  • A theatre production highlighting the migrant experience

Tagged With: Free events, London, National Trust

Curiosity of the Week

Woodhenge, Stonehenge’s lesser-known neighbour
Woodhenge - ©English Heritage, Historic England Photo Library

You have heard of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, but have you heard of its lesser known neighbour, Woodhenge? Find out more in our latest Curiosity of the Week…

Top Story

What to see at Edinburgh Fringe
Speed Dial, Credit Harry Plowden

Thinking of rounding your summer off with a trip to Edinburgh Fringe? Here’s a few suggestions of shows to see while you’re there…

What are you looking for today?

  • Alternative Sport
  • Art
  • Cabaret and Circus
  • Cinema
  • Classes, Workshops & Talks
  • Club Night
  • Comedy
  • Dance
  • Exhibitions and Installations
  • Fairs and Markets
  • Festival
  • Food & Drink
  • Heritage and History
  • Interview
  • Literature
  • Museum
  • Music
  • Nature and Outdoors
  • Review
  • Science and Technology
  • Theatre
  • Walks and Tours

Sign up to our Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 · Contrary Life