New exhibition - Mrs B: A Handsworth Life

Mrs B: A Handsworth Life explores the home life of Anita Eutedra Bartley, fondly known as Mrs B.  A member of the Windrush generation, Mrs B was born in St Catherine, Jamaica, and arrived at Heathrow in February 1955 to start a life in Handsworth, Birmingham with her husband John.

The exhibition features an installation of films, photographs and domestic objects exploring Mrs B’s life — a life typical of many from the Windrush generation, including Birmingham Back to Backs’ last occupant, George Saunders, a tailor from St Kitts, who, like Mrs B, settled in Birmingham in the 1950s. 

Items in the show include a Blaupunkt, Bluespot radiogram, common in many British-Caribbean homes during the 60s and 70s, plus ornaments and furniture typical of the period. The Bluespot was the centerpiece of family life in Landsdowne Road, playing songs by artists such as Otis Redding, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy London, and Clancy Eccles.

The exhibition includes an installation of photographs, Big Woman Hats featuring Mrs B’s wide and varied hat collection. Each hat presents a different moment in Mrs B’s life, starting with the bright and optimistic hat she bought in Jamaica ahead of her travels to the UK. 

This exhibition is in partnership with artist/curator Peter Grego, a former lecturer at Birmingham City University. His work encompasses a range of media, in a practice that engages with issues of nationality, location, identity, and historical memory.

In 1993 Peter produced a series of digitally manipulated monoprints, Family Albums, in which he explored the idea of families and family histories intertwining to create hybrid identities. The project has been revisited for this exhibition with several images from Family Albums included. 

Mrs B: A Handsworth Life is free to enter and you don't need to have been a tour of the Back to Backs to enter. You'll find the exhibition via Court 15, the Back to Backs second-hand bookshop located on Hurst Street.