Stories That Made Us Exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry

As of November 14, this exhibition is open to the public, a dynamic space which combines the active archive and living memory curated by Hardish Virk. Stories That Made Us tells the story of, and guides you through, four gallery spaces which immerse you in a movement across five decades and the journey of migration, identity and what it means to be South Asian in Coventry and Britain.

If the voiceovers weren’t moving or personal enough, there are also old family photos on a wall commemorating their move and mark in the history books

As one of the honoured first few to explore the exhibit before the public, and also a South Asian British young woman, this exhibition was truly informative, nostalgic and overwhelming. As you enter the space, you enter ‘Passport Control’ in the 1960s. A timeline follows all the rooms in pink (British and Western history) and green (South Asian history). The room has a passport control desk set up surrounded by a collage of headlines, articles and text pertaining to immigration law as well as voiceover which personalises the lived experiences individuals and their families went through. There is also a visual documentary projection which uses archival footage to authentically exemplify what the movement was like. There’s also a strategic use of black, white and red, reminiscent of the template of a newspaper publication. You can also read statistics from ‘Over 400 years’ walls which frame your walkway. If the voiceovers weren’t moving or personal enough, there are also old family photos on a wall commemorating their move and mark in the history books.

Moving into the 1970s you’re thrust into a bubbly, pink living room complete with multi-generational family photos, cassettes, Punjabi books—even a clock from the Virk’s family room—and a TV. The TV plays a short film by Manjinder Virk (the curator’s sister), and shows the room in action, commemorating the space where the Virks used to host meetings of the Indian Workers Association. You hear voices of children, possibly symbolic of the young Virk children, bridging the gap between location, memory and lived experience. A lone maternal figure dutifully brings the men cups of tea then isn’t seen again. There’s a sofa opposite the set-up which invites you not only to watch the film but combine past and present as you can sit and be in the space that’s been reconstructed. The timelines continue along the wall, now joined by a blue line representative of the Virk family timeline.

What struck me the most was a display case with a poster for the film ‘Mother India’ side by side with the matriarch of the family in traditional Kashmiri dress. The parallel is strong, beautiful and evocative; she is equally Mother India

As you move between spaces you can see the rise of Bollywood enclosed in display cases, vinyl and cassettes; also, writers conference papers, passports, and association posters remnant of the Virk patriarch and his political activism. The cassettes are also the last 40 remaining of Bhajan Virk’s collection. What struck me the most was a display case with a poster for the film ‘Mother India’ side by side with the matriarch of the family in traditional Kashmiri dress. The parallel is strong, beautiful and evocative; she is equally Mother India.

As you pass into the 80s you pass more family and childhood photos, the children also have their own plaques which describe how it felt growing up in Coventry, as well as how family, identity and place intersect.

You are welcomed into the 1980s in ‘Deesh’s Room’, the title of a short film playing. The film straddles two monitors, telling the story of growth, nostalgia, adolescence and belonging. The walls are covered in pop posters of Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson to name a few; as well as artwork that encompasses teen interest at the time mingled with popular politics. Lucrative items such as Adidas trainers, a Sergio Tacchini jacket, headphones, a VHS player fill the space. One of the descriptive plaques define the room aptly as ‘DIY creative culture’, and this part of the exhibition is indeed the epitome of this. Complete with desk, lived in bed and miscellaneous-seeming items, the bedroom naturally feels out of the VHS titles such as Carrie. Behind with bedroom are three display cases each filled with the curator’s own schoolwork, music memorabilia and activism. The space is a creative hub fill of life, youth and commemorates friendships of 40 years in the film. The anecdotes are vulnerable, transparent and raw, only amplifying the through-line narrative of being South Asian and British in the 1980s.

Opposite the radio station is the three timelines that run up to the 2010s, marking where the Virk family are today; writers, directors, performers and poets. Family legacy breathes through the exhibition

The final and most moving room to me was in the 1990s, the Radio Station. A room dedicated to Jasvir Kang, Virk’s mother, a respected member of the writing and broadcasting communities. The space is set-up as its title suggests with voiceover by Kang’s own grandchildren stories followed by Kang’s own voice narrating her stories in Punjabi. There are also two headphone sets and seats which invite you to privately and intimately listen to Kang’s radio show or some more short stories or poetry. Opposite the radio station is the three timelines that run up to the 2010s, marking where the Virk family are today; writers, directors, performers and poets. Family legacy breathes through the exhibition.

The exhibition tickles almost all of the senses as you explore it, even offering a reflection and short documentary before you leave. It combines Hardish Virk’s working archive and his father’s archive, which is one of the major archives in the country which tells and cherishes South Asian history. Indeed, that’s what the exhibition is about, celebrating and commemorating South Asian stories as told by South Asian creatives, whilst avoiding and circumventing bias or stereotypes. This exhibition does exactly that in an honest, and stylistic way which culminates in every entrant a bespoke experience because you never know what part of the films or voiceover or broadcast you’re listening to. All the more reason to come back and visit again.