TFL launch Descendants of All Worlds
Launch
of ‘Chandra’s London – A
Descendants of All Worlds Story’ on the London Underground

On
the 18th July,
Commissioner Peter Hendy of Transport for London officially opened the
Whitechapel Underground Station Descendants of All Worlds exhibition
together
with Sitakumari, Director for Heartstone, Howard Collins, Director for
TFL and
Sarah Olney of Arts & Business.
The
idea of the exhibition first came
into being as a result of the involvement of Jerry Piper, District Line
Manager, who felt the concept had potential in providing a new route
through
which to establish closer links with the local community.
Photojournalism as a
practical route through which to establish rapport with those who use
the
station, particularly those of the Bangladeshi community, was an
innovative
idea and it took well over a year to obtain the support necessary for
this
initiative to turn from just an idea into the practical reality. The
involvement of Equality and Diversity Managers, Laily Thompson and Carl
Duncan
along the way was absolutely crucial. A strong business case was
successfully
made by both managers and funding was found to enable the exhibition to
be
staged on the platforms and walkways of Whitchapel Station. This was
extended
through the funding of Arts & Business who further enabled the
exhibition
to be circulated to 100 groups across London.
The
pictures which have formed the
first exhibit on the station are all from ‘Banglatown
Portrait’, a story of
life in the Brick Lane area of Tower Hamlets, made possible through
picture
researcher Nozmul Miah and his friends all of whom were present at the
launch.

Also
present were some of the Hopscotch
women who are now the picture editors for ‘Descendants of All
Worlds’ for
whom this was a ‘first’. Two of the group
helped put the exhibition up at Whitechapel and a further 3 helped
stage the
exhibition at the London Muslim Centre for the launch. As picture
editors and
curators, they form the final essential ‘link in the
chain’ in telling the
story.
We
were delighted to be able to stage
the launch event at the London Muslim Centre and Mr. Dilowar Khan,
Director of
the Centre, gave a wonderful welcome to all assembled which included
several
boroughs of London who are participating in the project and areas from
across
the country who have taken up ‘Descendants of All
Worlds’ and will be working
with Heartstone stories over the course of this year.
The success of this first stage has led to the
initiative now in planning for extension to most of the other London
Underground lines in the coming months and it has provided the stimulus
for the
same concept to be spread to other transport networks across the
country, the
first being Wolverhampton Station
letter
of support from Mayor Ken Kivingstone