Brick Lane 1978: A new photographic exhibition captures the anti-racist movement

Ansar Ahmed Ullah
Contributing Editor,Shottobani

London: A new exhibition titled ‘Brick Lane 1978: The Turning Point’ has brought together seventy of photographer Paul Trevor’s images for the first time, alongside first-hand accounts of activists. The exhibition is the culmination of a heritage project led by Four Corners and Swadhinata Trust with a group of volunteers who have interviewed many people from that period.

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of talks produced in collaboration with Swadhinata Trust, Paul Trevor and the Altab Ali Foundation. ‘Brick Lane 1978: The Turning Point’ is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is a collaboration between Four Corners and Swadhinata Trust, in partnership with Paul Trevor. With the help of volunteers and original activists, the project has created a record of this social history as told by contemporary people.

Altab Ali’s murder on the night of May 1978 marked a turning point for the Bengali community. Thousands of people marched behind his coffin to a rally in Hyde Park, then to Downing Street, where they handed in a petition demanding police protection. That year young Bengali people mobilised in a community-led, anti-racist struggle which brought about a radical social transformation both locally and far beyond. Local photographer Paul Trevor documented the dramatic events of the era in over four hundred photographs, many of which are on display for the first time in this exhibition. His photographs show how the local Bengali community endured racial abuse as a constant factor of everyday life and how they united to end violence and institutional racism.

To this day, the name Altab Ali remains linked with the struggle against racism and for human rights in London’s East End. Brick Lane 1978: The Turning Point is at Four Corners Gallery, Bethnal Green, East London, and open to the public daily 11am-6pm.