BTCOTC Open Days – Booking now live! (CLOSED)

5 January 2022
Poster advertising the BTCOTC Open Day. A young mixed race man gazes into the camera. Overlaid around his face are historical images of mixed race families. The photo is set in a yellow background with the words BTCOTC and Open Day surrounding the photo.

Brent Residents and Creatives! Join us via Zoom to tell us about your mixed race and multicultural family histories or creative work:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/by-the-cut-of-their-cloth-open-day-tickets-231641404677

We are delighted to announce that booking for our BTCOTC Open Days is now live. Inspired by television programmers such as Antiques Roadshow and Fake or Fortune, our online Open Days on the 15th and 16th January 2022 invite Brent residents to delve into their attics, cupboards and family photo albums and tell us about any images and personal possessions that illustrate their mixed race and multicultural family histories.

We are also keen to hear from Brent-based creatives who have made or are engaging with work that resonates with our project theme.

BRENT RESIDENTS: We are interested in any of the following that tell a story of your family’s or Brent’s mixed race or multicultural history. For example:

  • Family Photographs and Albums
  • Personal Possessions
  • Items of Jewellery
  • Items of Clothing (scarves, hats, occasion wear)
  • Articles from Newspapers, Magazines or Journals
  • Official Documents/Files
  • Furniture, Ornaments, Paintings or other Heirlooms.
A young mixed race woman poses during the late 1960s at home in a sari next to her white middle aged white mother, dressed in black.
Julia and Emily, 1966. Reproduced with permission of the Nehra family.
Negative image showing a mixed race girl dressed in period costume
Untitled negative. Copyright Warren Reilly.
  • BRENT CREATIVES: In addition to showing us your work, it might be useful to think about the following before our conversation with you:
    • How did you create the work?
    • What is the medium of the work?
    • Who did/does the item belong to?
    • What are your own memories/experiences attached to this item?
    • How does this work represent your own or Brent’s mixed-race/multicultural history?

Originally scheduled to be held in-person at Willesden Library, due to Covid restrictions the event will now take place via Zoom. Find out more about our Open Days here and book your private conversation with the BTCOTC team via our Eventbrite link!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/by-the-cut-of-their-cloth-open-day-tickets-231641404677

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us: BTCOTCproject@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE BTCOTC PROJECT

Part of the #BeingBrent programme, ‘By The Cut Of Their Cloth’ (BTCOTC) is a collaborative project between Brent artist and designer Warren Reilly from Fashioning our History and The Mixed Museum. Our project aims to explore and preserve Brent’s rich multicultural and mixed race history, and we are particularly interested in how fashion can help us understand and display hidden or overlooked histories. By inviting Brent residents to participate in sharing family histories and creative workshops, we hope that the stories uncovered by and created for the project will contribute to existing archival collections – such as that held by The Mixed Museum and Brent Museum and Archives – for future generations to study and enjoy. You can read more about the BTCOTC project here and the Being Brent programme here.

Poster advertising By the Cut of Their Cloth project. The letters BTCOTC are written in orange in large horizontal capitals. The words By the Cut of Their Cloth are written in black in smaller capitals next to them. A cut out photo of a couple taken in 1921 is shown. The woman is white and is sitting in a chair with her hands folded in her lap. She is wearing a white blouse and black skirt. A mixed race man of Black heritage is sat on the arm of the chair, leaning into her. He is wearing a coat over a suit and tie.
Poster advertising By the Cut of Their Cloth project. The letters BTCOTC are written in red in large horizontal capitals. The words By the Cut of Their Cloth are written in black in smaller capitals next to them. A cut out photo shows Warren Reilly, a mixed race man of Black heritage, in an art gallery. He posing in front of black and white abstract art pieces and is wearing an elaborate black robe and looking directly into the camera.

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