Life Between Islands at Tate Britain 

 

Making the most of my Tate Collective five pound rate for 16-25 (I know, amazing!), I decided to go up to Pimlico to see this exhibition. It celebrates the relationship between the Caribbean and Britain in art from the 1950s to today. To me, it was like a nostalgic walk where every piece felt familiar - from the parties that ran into the night, the dull sound of reggae to the Notting Hill carnival and how the police tried to stop it. 

 

The Black Lives Matter movement we have seen in recent years is nothing new; Black Power has always been struggled for in Brixton, Charing Cross, Notting Hill and across London where tensions ran high through the 60s and 70s. Paintings capture the only-black spaces like bars and parties, and the comforting yet claustrophobic bubble that Caribbean people made for themselves in London.

 

Themes explored included the role of culture in decolonisation, the significance of home and diasporic identity. One of my personal favourites was the classic black living room from another time, the floral bright carpet, some wall decoration alluding to God, a hair pick on the TV set and records of the greats.

 

Writer George Lamarck remarked ‘we became West Indian in London’ - this sums up perfectly the Caribbean British experience, picking up the pieces of their heritage, jumbled up by colonialism. 

 

If you’re more of a reader then an art lover, then books Lonely Londoners by Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon and Small Island by British author Andrea Levy, which were on sale outside the exhibition exit, also center around the immigrant experience.

 

It is also a testament of identity and pride. This exhibition runs till 3rd April 2022 and the Tate Britain is a 8 min walk from Pimlico station, so go and check it out!