Windrush Stories
The Real Selfie Project is a collaboration between photographer Rafael Hortala-Vallve (autofoto.org) and filmmaker Nick Francis (speakit.org). Using an analogue photobooth from the 1970s as their camera of choice, the duo capture portraits and collect personal stories of people living in London. The images and stories in this book were captured at Hackney’s annual celebration of the Windrush generation at Stoke Newington Town Hall on June 22nd 2019. With thanks to Ali Elisa, Learning & Participation Manager at Autograph ABP Gallery, and Petra Roberts, Cultural Development Manager at Hackney Council. Follow us on Instagram @therealselfieproject
The Real Selfie Project is a collaboration between photographer Rafael Hortala-Vallve (autofoto.org) and filmmaker Nick Francis (speakit.org). Using an analogue photobooth from the 1970s as their camera of choice, the duo capture portraits and collect personal stories of people living in London.
The images and stories in this book were captured at Hackney’s annual celebration of the Windrush generation at Stoke Newington Town Hall on June 22nd 2019.
With thanks to Ali Elisa, Learning & Participation Manager at Autograph ABP Gallery, and Petra Roberts, Cultural Development Manager at Hackney Council.
Follow us on Instagram @therealselfieproject
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Gloria Collins / Valerie
Gloria: Both Valeria and myself came from Trinidad.
I came here in 1966 on the SS Antilles to do nursing.
I came to Portsmouth and I arrived on the boat,
8 o’clock in the morning, expecting to find my
uncle waiting for me. No uncle, he turned up three
weeks after I got there. So I travelled from Southampton
to Chadwell Heath hospital in Essex – no
coat, freezing cold on the 7th October 1966. And I
reached the hospital around 4pm in the afternoon
and the matron said to me, “ Who brought me?”
I said, “I brought myself”. I had no money. In those
days you used to have to send a telegram back
home so I was in this country for how many weeks
and my parents didn’t even know that I had arrived.
Valerie: I came on BOAC, it was an airline – the
British Overseas Airways Corporation. I was 18
and I came into nursing. I went to Addenbrooke’s
hospital in Cambridge. I arrived here on Christmas
eve day, 1969.
Valerie: The Windrush generation set the standards
for us who followed them. They are the ones who
really had the hardest time. Because when I came,
I went into a nurse’s home. I think I was cushioned.
When I hear about people saying ‘no dogs, no
children, no blacks’, I never had that experience
because I always been in a cushioned environment.
I really pull off my hat to people like my aunt and
uncle who came, used to live in one room with
three children, sharing a cooker on the landing.
It’s hard to get your head around that sort of situation.
Gloria: I was 18 when I came – a sweet teenager.
Now I’m 71. I’m a happy pensioner. Valerie and I go
on cruises, we go out together. We are just having
a good time until the good Lord is ready for us. We
just take one day at a time. And for 71, I think we
are doing very well for ourselves
Age 71
Place of birth Trinidad
Arrived in the UK 1966 / 1969
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