Moment x Willem Verbeeck Grant Recipient

Shinade Walters

Being Black and British can feel like quite a dichotomy especially when your cultural roots are very strong

‘Home’ depicts the lives of three individuals born in Britain from a Jamaican heritage, focussing on what elements are the most important and defining to them. Whilst day to day these individuals are amongst friends and colleagues with whom they share commonalities, when at ‘home’ what role is played? What is central to their identity and how have previous generations impacted this?

“Your hair is your identity, it's symbolic. It can also be a protest against certain systems especially when your natural hair isn’t always accepted or viewed as professional”.

This project has been a wonderful opportunity to explore 'identity' of first and second generation Black British people from Jamaican heritage. The aim was to capture what they most value in regards to identity, whether it be their food, hair, or passions. How does that feature in their day to day lives?

I’m British, Indian and Jamaican. I don’t shy away from that, I embrace my culture.

“Being able to plant your food on the allotment then use it to cook a pot of Saturday soup using the family recipe. The catch is working out the measurements, what might be a dash to one person may be a pinch to another”.

The most challenging aspect of this project was definitely the coronavirus pandemic. It had a huge affect on a person hoping to take part in the project, and we were worried about their health and wellbeing more than anything. Another way it presented difficulty was knowing an image would have been better suited in someone's home or personal space, yet having to find workarounds for that. Also — special shoutout to the English weather and experiencing all 4 season it one day, regardless of the forecast.

Moment Creator Grant #4 | Willem Verbeeck Creator Grant