CREATING FUTURES EXHIBITION

WALTHAM FOREST COLLEGE

From October 2022 to October 2023 I curated my first exhibition, Creating Futures: Arts, History, and Heritage. This exhibition had two key purposes: celebrating Waltham Forest College’s (formerly South-West Essex Technical College) rich 85-year history and presenting the most up-to-date and comprehensive record of the College’s legacy in an accompanying book.

CURATING THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition came to life after a chance encounter in 2020 with Photographer JC Candanedo and visual artist Thaïs Verhasselt, who were supporting students on The Prince’s Trust Team Programme based at the College. We soon realised that our personal projects aligned, and in October 2022 began the journey to co-curate a week-long exhibition that featured our three projects. The exhibition opened on 16th October 2023 and remained until 22nd October.

Throughout the year I worked tirelessly to research the College (formerly known as the South-West Essex Technical College) by poring over old prospectuses, principal reports, letters, brochures, journals, newspaper articles and more. I spoke to people who had attended the College (former students and staff), and their relatives, and visited the archives at the University of East London.

My primary goal was to create a series of panels that displayed easily digestible written information alongside a selection of historical photographs that best represented the College through the decades. There would also be two display cabinets with physical archive material as well as two videos: the first featuring the Official Opening Ceremony of the College and the second an edited cut of Children’s Charter, a propaganda film that was partially filmed at the College circa 1944.

Although the College opened in 1938 I wanted to start the exhibition in the year 1850 to provide historical context. This era focussed on the decline of the British Empire from an education and manufacturing perspective when compared to fast-industrialising rivals such as Germany and the United States of America. Against that backdrop I was able to take the viewer on a journey through time to the present day.

THE EXHIBITION BOOK

Accompanying the exhibition was a book titled Creating Futures. The book expanded on the displayed content with further information and imagery. It has been written in a style that guides the reader through the College’s history against a backdrop of national and international events.

Initially, I didn’t intend to write an accompanying book – it was to be a small brochure that included the exhibitors to be used as an introductory piece. However, as I conducted my research and slowly pieced together the narrative and visuals for the display panels, I soon realised I had far more valuable content to share than I could ever put on display. Thus, the idea for the book was borne, and over five months, I wrote and designed 120 pages of historical information and photography. The book is extensive, however, I truly believe it only scratches the surface of what the College has to offer. Maybe one day I will revisit and expand upon this project or, perhaps, I will follow in the footsteps of my predecessors and leave it to somebody else to continue.

The first written record of the College’s history was published in 1947 in a book called The Country Should Be Grateful – The War-time History of the South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art, written by W. R. Bray, a maths lecturer at the South-West Essex Technical College. The second record came forty-one years later when Deputy Librarian Judy Seabourne wrote a small book for the College’s 50th anniversary celebration. My book, Creating Futures, has followed this timeline to be produced 35 years later and I’m proud to be the third person in the chain to document Waltham Forest College’s history for future generations. The one-hundredth anniversary is only fifteen years away so perhaps the next chapter will not have to wait for too long.

THE LAUNCH EVENT

The launch night of the exhibition was Tuesday 17th October 2023. In attendance were staff and students of Waltham Forest College, representatives from the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Greater London Authority, Association of Colleges, The Prince’s Trust (now The King’s Trust) and other education and social organisations. Those who had previously worked or studied at the College also attended alongside the relatives of people whose stories were displayed.

The launch night and exhibition were, without a doubt, a resounding success. It was nostalgic to former (and long-standing) staff and students, eye-opening to current staff and students and fascinating to those guests who had not previously been to the College or who did not realise the extent of its history.

Speeches were delivered by the Principal, Chair of Governors and me - I must admit I got a bit teary (probably the relief of it all being over combined with my passion for what I had achieved.