Histories exhibition is helping to bridge the generation gap
Display features old photos of Islington taken from local archives and new ones of the same areas
Friday, 21st July 2023 — By Izzy Rowley
The launch of the Visual Histories exhibition at Angel Central, created by Anastasiia Rudkovska (third from left) [The Islington Storyteller]
IT’S your last chance to see an exhibition that looks to fight loneliness and bring the community together, writes Izzy Rowley.
The Visual Histories exhibition, on in collaboration with Islington Festival and Islington Local History Centre, was created by Anastasiia Rudkovska after the success of her community contribution-filled blog, The Islington Storyteller.
Ms Rudkovska moved to the borough a handful of years ago to study at University College London, and describes herself as a “relative newby” who “deeply cares about the area.”
The exhibition, held in Angel Central, features old photos of Islington taken from local archives and new photos of the same areas taken by photographers from the borough.
“The idea of juxtaposing the archived photographs with new pictures taken last year came from an understanding of the big challenges that we face as a community right now.
“As the Islington Storyteller, we’ve been engaging and supporting local charities like Islington Giving and collaborating with charities in east London and academics in UCL to respond to the growing sentiment of loneliness following a few years of sitting behind closed doors and not communicating to each other.
“You can feel lonely when you’re surrounded by people, when you’re older, or when you’re very young – it’s something we all share as human beings when we lack social connection.
“One of the main drivers for this exhibition, and the arrangement of it, was specifically to bridge this gap between generations, to bridge this gap in lack of communication and engage those who visit the exhibition in discussions and sharing their stories about what they love about the neighbourhood, and what they know about local history,” said Ms Rudkovska.
The Islington Festival wraps up this weekend and takes the exhibition with it. But Ms Rudkovska hopes to organise workshops around the same themes and put the photographs in the Islington Local History Centre.
The final concert in the festival’s programme takes place tomorrow (Saturday) night, and sees Joana Ly, one of the festival’s organisers, playing violin in a Franz Schubert string quartet and a Mozart piano sonata.
Get your tickets here https://thelittleboxoffice.com/islingtonfestival
