The West Indian Front Room (The Albany Deptford)

The West Indian Front Room at The Albany, Deptford in October 2004 consisted of an installation curated by McMillan that was set-up in a small studio performance space with a radiogram, glass cabinet, dining table and chairs, coffee table all adorned with crochet doilies, cushions and other soft furnishings.

He wasn’t able to hang any pictures or fixtures on the black walls of the theatre space, though it was perfect for an evening performance by The Sunshine Granny Club (a group of five Caribbean female elder performers and a male elder Calypsonian) and the storyteller/writer, Sandra Agard.

There was also a series of intergenerational oral history workshops with Caribbean elders and younger Black British participants, in which they shared stories about migrating to Britain, as well as growing up and living Black.

There was a record number of visitors to the installation, who also saw the screening of the oral history video made for The West Indian Front Room installation-based exhibition at the Zion Arts Centre (2003).