© Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories. Artist EVEWRIGHT and selected Photos John Ferguson. All other images Evewright Studio and Evewright Arts all rights reserved 2021
TILBURY BRIDGE WALKWAY OF MEMORIES
THE OUTDOOR ART AND SOUND INSTALLATION.
CLOSED TILL FURTHER NOTICE.
Evewright Arts are sad to announce the closure of 'Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories' (TBWM) a site-specific art installation at Tilbury Port. TBWM wascreated by artist EVEWRIGHT in 2020 and opened free to the public since 2021. The artwork comprised of images, documents, audio recordings and memorabilia on 432 panes of glass, adorning one of the bridges that passengers of the Empire Windrush first walked across as they entered Britain in 1948 at Tilbury International Cruise Terminal in Essex.
"Due to reasons beyond our control this bridge is now closed to the public. Sadly, we don’t have a date as to when our property will be reopened to the public but we will notify (the public) when we have a better understanding of what’s required. We don’t expect this to be available for some weeks."
Steve Lyons, Senior Asset Manager at the Port of Tilbury confirmed.
This closure also coincided with the closure of the Tilbury to Gravesend ferry which is also closed until further notice. According to Kent County Council's website which said:
"…a ferry operator could not be found to deliver this contract from April 2024."
In the 3 years that TBWM art installation has been opened to the public it has benefited from an annual footfall of 100,000 ferry passengers who used the walkway daily. Each year since 2021 Evewright Arts successfully hosted Windrush Day events in June, held organised group and Black History Month tours which brought over 5,000 visitors to experience Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories in addition to online engagement with our video tours and social media.
“Evewright Arts Foundation (EAF) is proud of the art installation and our projects that enabled many people from the Windrush generation to share their stories, through images, 25 audio interviews recorded, films 'Motherless Child' and 'Here I Stand' directed by EVEWRIGHT and our print publications. We have been successful in bringing these untold stories to light, through a variety of mediums, to share with a wider public. These legacies will continue to be available for people to learn about the important contributions that people from the Windrush generation has made to Britain and their impact on future generations.
Each year between 2021-2023 over 90% of visitors who have engaged with our artwork consistently said they would like to see 'Tilbury Bridge Walkways of Memories' be a permanent memorial. We are humbled by the responses from our feedback surveys. We cannot yet say what the future of the artwork will be at Tilbury bridge. However, we do know these resources are important legacies that will keep the contributor’s memories alive and will remain useful for the public, schools and institutions to engage in this significant artwork.”
Artistic Director EVEWRIGHT and Writer Ionie Richards co-founders of Evewright Arts.
RESOURCES
VIDEO
https://www.evewrightarts.org/tilbury-bridge-video-installation
Artist EVEWRIGHT will take you on a guided tour of Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories and talk about the inspiration behind his work, his influences and his anthropological approach to this site-specific Art Installation using the Windrush Generation as his subject.
EXHIBITION GUIDE
https://www.evewrightarts.org/_files/ugd/964538_f7d005cfdc2847dfb936fa406a32652e.pdf
An exhibition guide is also available using your own device download the PDF. Use a QR reader to scan the QR codes featured on selected windows, alternatively use the website links. Listen to extracts of stories from Windrush elders about their experience of coming to the UK.
TILBURY BRIDGE WALKWAY OF MEMORIES LEGACY PUBLICATION
Click here to order your free copy of the publication
https://www.evewrightarts.org/product-page/tilbury-bridge-wakway-of-memories-legacy-publication
AUDIO RECORDINGS:
The public can access all edited and (by request) unedited audio recordings at Essex Record Office (ERO) in Chelmsford or online on ERO’s website. Search for EVEWRIGHT
on www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk. Visitors to ERO’s search room
can access transcriptions of all the audio recordings.
To book your visit email: ero.searchroom@essex.gov.uk
TRANSCRIPTION
Transcriptions: Thurrock Museum in Essex have transcribed all the 25 audio recordings and copies are also lodged at the Museum. Go to www.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrock-museum or Email: thurrock.museum@ thurrock.gov.uk for further information.
Online teaching resources using these transcriptions can be found at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/ThurrockMuseum
SELECTED EXTRACTS:
A selection of elders’ stories are published at: www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/caribbean-takeaway-takeover-interviews-online and www.caribbeantakeawaytakeover.wordpress.com
To keep up to date on further news about Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories and other events please subscribe to our newsletter at:
www.evewrightarts.org and www.evewright.com follow us on Twitter / instagram: @evewrightarts @evewrightstudio
Public Opening Times.
Entrance: CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Monday - Friday: 10am - 4pm
Saturday : 10am - 6pm
Please share pictures of your visit on our Instagram @evewrightstudio and @evewrightarts.
Location: The Location is signposted.
TILBURY BRIDGE WALKWAY OF MEMORIES
LONDON INTERNATIONAL CRUISE TERMINAL
TILBURY ESSEX RM18 7NJ
Tilbury Bridge Walkway Near Tilbury Ferry / Bus Terminus Fort Road Tilbury Essex RM18 7NJ. The site is accessible by Car, Bus and train.
Train Timetable:
London Fenchurch Street to Tilbury Town
TILBURY BRIDGE WALKWAY OF MEMORIES ART INSTALLATION
Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories is an art and sound installation conceived by Artist EVEWRIGHT. It is the first site-specific art and sound installation to be held at the Port of Tilbury in Essex and the UK dedicated to people of the Windrush Generation.
It is an immersive visual art experience, installed on 432 panes of glass collaged with photographs, documents, original boat passenger tickets and memorabilia. The artwork is installed in an original passenger walkway 55 metres long. As you walk through, you can listen to audio stories about the lives of some of the elders whose images are featured in the installation.
Tilbury Port is an iconic location which has an historic significance to the black community in Britain. This artwork is a unique statement memorialising the lives of those people who came from the Caribbean who carried their British passports proudly as British citizens with hope and expectation. They passed through this location as one of the original walkways where SS Empire Windrush passengers, in 1948 arrived. Although many arrived before 1948, those that arrived here were the first large post war wave of British colonial citizens to disembark from the passenger ship at Tilbury Cruise Terminal.
This installation features over 130 people from the Windrush era and their families through photographs, documents and audio, telling stories in their own words of their arrival, the lives and families they created and their contribution to British society. This artwork and soundscape are symbolic and a testimony to those that arrived on SS Empire Windrush and the many that followed that journey to the UK.
This artwork is the fourth in a series of site-specific work created by artist EVEWRIGHT who developed the original Caribbean Takeaway Takeover an installation originally staged in Colchester, Essex in 2018, who took over and transformed S&S Caribbean Takeaway. The idea was to create an innovative and engaging art and sound installation in an informal setting owned and controlled by the Caribbean community.
We value the importance of our community telling their stories in their own voices. This installation shows how public spaces can be repurposed to share our stories and reach people in new and innovative ways. It challenges perceptions of where art can be experienced and enjoyed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dedicated to the memory of Clarice Agatha Reid (3 Feb 1935 -10 April 2020) and Don Sydney (14 Dec 1940 - 7 July 2020) and the many loved ones from the Windrush Generation who has left a lasting legacy for future generations.
Special thanks to the many people from Essex and across the United Kingdom who contributed their family’s images
and audio stories:
Alford Gardner, Lenore Sykes, Alton Watkins, Tina Aparicio, Don Sydney, Gloria Whyte, Hamilton Williams, Nell Green, Carlton Darrell, Carol Sydney, Allan Wilmot, Clarice Agatha Reid. Everton Wright, Dennis Wright, Weston Wright, Lindon Wright, Percy Carter, Roy Rowe, Thelma Rowe, Ena Smith, David Smith, Byrel Crawford (Melville), Edmund Decordova Ironman Melville, Josephine Melville, Alfred Thompson, Lorna Thompson, Althea Lashley, Roland Lashley, Carl Lynch, Casper Grey, Daisy Robinson(Walters), Lorraine Robinson Busha Evans, Inez Creary, Julie Angela James Felix , Kelly Larson, Marcel Celine Alexander, Melvina Donegal, Nicodemus Felix, Myra Dodd, Kelly Larson, Shaura Creary, Stanley Thompson, Lorna Thompson, Clarence Parris, Evelyn Parris, Elvy Morton, Winston Levy, Amy Levy, Eaton Ridguard, Alvin Ffrench, Miriam Ffrench, Lloyd George Wedderburn, Ken Mc Collin, Lydia Sterling, Sherlene Rudder, Stanley Roy Archer, Inez Hooper, Simeon Alexander Hooper, Courtney Anthony Hooper, Freda Seaton, Murphy Sanderson, Leonard Sanderson, Ivaline White, Alvin White, Leon Titus, Marlene Titus, Archie Symes, Cynthia Symes, Edna Ulett, Norma Griffiths, Phillip Griffiths, Andrew Watson, Wade Watson, Bill Bascombe-King, Edith Bascombe-King, Claudette Reid, Gregory Burke, Marget Getfield, Yvonne Raper, Sandra Boreland-Reid, Ian Reid, Jacinth Reid, Doris Reid, Fredricka Shorter, Thomas Shorter, Donald Shorter, Alfreda Shorter, Hubert Shorter, Jennifer Wilmot- Simpson, George Cespedes, Alift Harewood, Loretta Rogers, Iris Gibbs, Ivan Gibbs, Susan Gibbs, Samantha Gibbs, Florence Chambers, Pearline McKenzie, Rupert George McKenzie, Arpy Augustus, Delores Augustus, Evena Morris, Ruby McCoy, Hazel Williams, Ferdinand Beresford Williams, Florence McLeod, Del & Ionie Richards, Andean Richards, Claudius Elias Richards, Calvin Eustace Richards, Erica Richards, Renaldo Richards, Ettamay Butler, Lincoln Richards, John Wesley Richards, Winona Elizabeth Goldbourn, Sharon Forde, Eunice Williams, Eastlyn Williams, Peggy Addison, Kelvin Addison, Patsy Legister, Fay Sealy, Murle Sealy, Cleopatra Icilda Veneer, Gail Headley, Kim Headley, Gloria Ellerslie Olaiya, Gabriel Adediran Olaiya.
Evewright Arts Foundation wish to thank our funders.
This project is delivered with the support of Port of Tilbury, Tilbury on the Thames Trust and supported using public funding by Arts Council England / Windrush Day Grant funded by Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) / Creative Estuary, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport funds the Cultural Development Fund which is administered by Arts Council England / Essex Cultural Diversity Project / Thurrock Council & Thurrock CVS
Essex Community Foundation.
Supporters
Essex Records Office / Evewright Studio / South Essex African Caribbean Association / Tilbury Riverside Project / One Community Trust / Windrush Foundation.
