Traces: Stories of Migration

The publication Traces: Stories of Migration brings together the creative outcomes of a two-year research project undertaken by Professor Lucy Orta. It was published to coincide with the final exhibitions at the Nunnery Gallery (2 June – 27 August 2023) and LCF, UAL East Bank (2 October 2023 – 19 January 2024).

Traces: Stories of Migration explores migration histories that are woven into the history and fabric of east London. The project draws the experiences of communities affected by migration and the memories accumulated as people journey from one place to another. Between 2021 and 2023, Orta led a programme of community engagement workshops with eighty residents across the London boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets. The workshops were centred around storytelling and textile heritage, using the mediums of cloth and stitch as a common language through which multigenerational migration histories take form. Sixty-seven participants created personal ‘Story Cloths' and Lucy Orta realised textile portraits of each person. This 'Portrait Gallery' challenges the convention of portraiture using cloth, stitch, beadwork, fabric patterns and appliqué to reflect the unique characteristics of people involved. The portraits are expressive and inclusive, recognising a myriad of trajectories through life and the diversity of peoples’ lived experiences. Essays by Camilla Palestra and Caroline Stevenson reflect on the historic context for the project situating this within the distinct migrant heritage of East London, and the methodologies employed to generate outcomes that were presented in two conclusive exhibitions.

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• https://poplarworks.co.uk/programmes/mak...