From Sylhet to St Pancras: Bengali History in Camden, 1970-2000

This exhibition tells local histories of Bengali communities in Camden. The show celebrates some of the key organisations, cultural happenings, and education initiatives that contributed to postwar Bengali settlement in the borough, as they appear in Camden's archival collections. Showcasing photographs, pamphlets, flyers, and reports, the exhibition celebrates a formative moment for Camden's South Asian communities.

 Highlights also include a partial re-staging of the Bengali Workers' Association's ‘Here & There’ project, which gives firsthand accounts from some of the first generations of Bengalis who settled in Camden, as well as a small exhibition of never-before-seen photographs from the late 1970s, which document Bengali home life, street scenes in and around Euston, and local activist and education organisations.

There is also a special section dedicated to the little-known Occupation of Town Hall in 1984—when unhoused Bengali families staged a one-month occupation of Camden's Town Hall to demand safe housing—featuring ephemera, photographs, and reproductions of original occupation panels. These have all been generously loaned by two organisers who were central to the occupation.

 Image of Bengali Workers Action Group Christmas party, ca. 1980. © Eithne Nightingale and CLSAC.