Family Threads: Heart, Home and History

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Family Threads is a free pop-up photography display on the World Gallery Balcony, showcasing African and Caribbean Community Researchers' family history.

The display features personal family photos from the early 1900s to the 1970s, spanning Nigeria, South Africa, Trinidad, Antigua and the UK. It explores the threads of family, migration and home, honouring the people who came before us.

Family Threads was inspired by Pearl Hodgson West, who has traced her family’s history back to the 1700s, including their journeys from the Caribbean to the UK. Each Community Researcher has shared some of their favourite family memories and chosen an object from the Horniman’s collection that speaks to them.

With thanks to the African and Caribbean Community Researchers: Abiola Balogun, Pearl Hodgson West, Courtney Joseph and Judy Joseph.

A previous version of this exhibition was shown at Canvas and Cream, Forest Hill, from 12 November – 2 December 2024.