Race to save 1960s Windrush front room exhibition
The Dominican Front Room installation at the Watershed was meant to be temporary but proved popular.
**Race to save 1960s Windrush front room exhibition**
A temporary museum display that recreates a 1960s front room has become so well liked that organisers say they are now racing to secure it a permanent home.
The curator of the Dominican Front Room project at Bristol's Watershed, broadcaster Sherrie Eugene-Hart, said the project was an important cultural reference point.
Eugene-Hart's project was backed by Bristol's longest-serving Black female police officer, Beverley Douglas, and includes genuine Caribbean keepsakes donated by Bristol families.
It was launched for Black History Month and will remain on view through October, but organisers are hoping to find a long-term venue before the city's Windrush Festival in 2027.
Eugene-Hart said she chose to make the idea a reality after both of her parents died within six years of each other.
"This is homage to them and so many others - [thousands] of Dominican, Caribbean people in Bristol who had a front room just like this," she said.
The exhibit has drawn many visitors, and organisers said it would be a shame if no permanent home could be found.
Beverley Douglas said it would be a shame to have to pack the exhibition away at the end of the month.
"We don't want to put this back in bags and boxes," said Douglas.
"The hope is that we can find a home at the end of the installation so people can continue to see this is about education.
"It would be lovely to see people on school visits walking along wherever the installation is and say 'I know where these items come from. They come from Dominica, they come from the Windrush generation, and want to know more'."
Douglas said the project brought back memories of her childhood in Bristol.
"We have to ensure our young people know their history," she said.
"This is my childhood, this is my life, this is my pride and hopefully our young people will one day have a similar story about their legacy."
Sherrie Eugene-Hart said the project recalled a time when the front room was almost sacred in a Dominican home.
Eugene-Hart said the Dominican Front Room brought back her childhood and symbolised the most important part of the home in the 1960s.
"As much as the houses may have been falling down, the front room was the place where you had pride. It was a sense of achievement," she said.
"The house was always untidy because as children we didn't tidy up, however the front room was gorgeous.
"As children we couldn't go in - in fact we only went in to clean the china, to clean the crystals.
"And if we had visitors from Dominica or London or Preston, they would come and go into the front room, and we could go in and say hello, but we couldn't stay long."
She added: "Legacy is so important. Our parents and grandparents have now passed and I'd like to think [people] will take away some sense of pride and hope."