Threads

Threads was a series of 74 inkjet prints exploring time, place and memory that were exhibited at the Brady Arts Centre, Hanbury Street in Spitalfields, East London. The body of work took inspiration from oral testimonies collected from the migrant communities of garment workers who have inhabited East London. The garment industry was used as a metaphor to suggest the threads of a narrative that intersect in Spitalfields, East London as a historic place.

True traced her grandfather's footsteps through the streets of East London in search of the history that had been imprinted onto the fabric of her mind through his experience. In doing so a patchwork quilt of interwoven cultural multiplicity was discovered. One monument that can be read back through the layers of time as evidence for the diverse cultural history of the area is the building at the end of Fournier Street, Spitalfields. In 1743-4 a Huguenot Church was constructed, which was converted into a Synagogue in 1898, and then reopened as a Mosque in 1976.

Tools of the Tailoring Trade
Epson Archival Matt
24 cm x 30 cm

The composition of London’s Jewish population changed dramatically in the early 1880s largely as a result of events in Russia. The government-sponsored pogroms, together with enforced military service, encouraged a steady flow of migrants to seek sanctuary in the West. A major concentration of Jewish people who found employment in the garment industry were the neighbours of True’s grandfather in Stepney. The Jewish community began to move away from the East End in the 1920s. The Second World War caused widespread destruction of the area and accelerated the migration of the Jewish community.

Fashion Street
Epson Archival Matt
30 cm x 24 cm

Embroidery and Beads
Epson Archival Matt
24 cm x 18 cm

Setting out from Aldgate East tube station, True walked along Brick Lane towards Bethnal Green. In spite of being in the heart of Bangla Town, it was impossible to ignore the palimpsest that surrounded her, a text, which when read spoke of overlapping stories from different places and times.

Leather Garments
Epson Archival Matt
24 cm x 18 cm

In the 1950s and early 1960s after the out-migration of the Jewish community from the East End of London, the area became inhabited by people from Bangladesh. At the Bethnal Green end of Brick Lane, an increasing number of shop windows displayed leatherwear. Mannequins stood proudly modelling designs offered in red, black, mauve or brown, with zips or without, fur trimmed or otherwise.

Sequins, Beads and Threads
Epson Archival Matt
24 cm x 18 cm

Brick Lane
Epson Archival Matt
30 cm x 24 cm

The traditional clothing trade that had been established in Spitalfields since the arrival of the Huguenots had once again offered employment to people from Bangladesh as it had to the Jewish community a century before. By using the experiences and memories of the individuals True had interviewed, the threads of the history of Spitalfields, where her grandfather had lived, became unravelled. A fascinating picture was revealed of an intricately woven fabric of different societies who gave Spitalfields, East London a sense of place, partly through being employed in the garment industry.