The West Indian Front Room: Memories and Impressions of Black British Homes

The West Indian Front Room: Memories and Impressions of Black British Homes was McMillan’s guest curated installation-based exhibition at the Geffrye Museum (October 2005 – February 2006). Over a year, he sourced materials from a range of outlets including second-hand markets and shops, charity shops, flea markets and eBay, as well as using my mother’s crochet collection, and donated and loaned items.

It enabled the creation of a detailed central front room installation based on the architectural design of an Edwardian parlour room common in many houses, which included a bay window, fireplace and alcoves. This was contextualised by an exhibition that featured the work of photographers: Vanley Burke, Charlie Phillips, Maxine Walker, Neil Kenlock, two shorts films featuring Stuart Hall, Jazzie B, Andrea Stewart and Linda Small made by Joel Karamath, oral history interview sound-bites accessed via 700 series telephones, displays of items like crochet in the shape of a pineapple, the paraffin heater, and domestic seating areas for visitors. 

There was a complementary public programme that included curator led guided tours, oral history and family object handling workshops, a writers salon and a Christmas workshop where homemade black cake and sorrel was served.  

As the museum’s most popular exhibition with over 35,000 visitors, The West Indian Front Room resonated beyond the Black British experience with South East Asian, Turkish and Greek Cypriot, Jewish migrants, as well as white working communities about shared aesthetics in the home.

The West Indian Front Room was the basis of the BBC4 documentary Tales from the Front Room (2007) directed by Zimena Percival, and led to subsequent international commissions, where it was simply called The Front Room because of it’s cross-cultural appeal.