ELO MELO - Festival Programme
ELO MELO
Festival celebrating Bengali Arts & Culture.
Hosted at Whitechapel Gallery
CLICK HERE FOR IMAGES & VIDEOS OF THE FESTIVAL |
CLICK HERE FOR IMAGES & VIDEOS OF THE FESTIVAL |
An enchanting programme filled with music that resonates deep within and films that inspire. Elo Melo is a vibrant celebration of Bangladeshi arts, music, panel discussions, crafts, films, food and more. The name Elo Melo encapsulates the very essence of what Oitij-jo is all about – a beautiful mishmash of creativity, a harmonious disorder of cultural expression and an abstract blend of influences from Bengal.
Elo Melo signifies the joy of randomness, the beauty of abstraction, and the magic that emerges when different art forms come together in a glorious disorderly dance.
WORK-SHOPS
LIVE ACTS
TALKS
FILMS
BIOS & CREDITS
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TUMPA FELLOWS - STORYTELLING THROUGH NAKSHI KANTHA EMBROIDERY
Tumpa is a design tutor at the Architecture department at the Central Saint Martins and runs a Masters architecture studio at the London School of Architecture.
She is a PHD candidate at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.
Tumpa is a panel member of the Design Review Panel for the Southwark Council Planning Department in London. She is the founder of FAME collective, a research-network, exposing the barriers in architecture for Female Architects of Minority Ethnic.
LEILA IMAN - SPINNING SOUNDSCAPES - MASTERING THE ART OF DJING
Leila Iman is a DJ and dance artist, born and bred in East London. As a DJ, Leila showcases sounds from around the worlds, and is particularly inspired but the music she grew up to amongst her original jungliest parents.
Through her work in arts community engagement across several years, Leila is dedicated to creating and building spaces where people feel safe to share their stories and be creative, especially for those from underrepresented communities.
She has worked with schools, youth groups, community centres and arts organisations across London. Clients include: Lost Village Festival, BBC Asian Network, Sadlers Wells Theatre, V&A & more.
JINIA TASNIN & TASNIM SIDDIQA AMIN - RUNJHUNI - MASK & INSTRUMENT MAKING
Jinia is (Noakhali)Bangladeshi-born artist from Rome, Italy. They are an interdisciplinary artist & creative technologist exploring god, government & surveillance through commensality. Jinia is the founder of ‘Fugazzi Fusion’, which is a cross disciplinary practice looking at the the proximity of food as a metaphor in the form of A/V pieces, interactive dinners, edible installations, and performances. Currently they work at Prahlad Bubbar gallery where they spend time in a rich archive of 16/17th century Islamic & Indian arts which heavily influences their current work.
TASNIM SIDDIQA AMIN (she/they) is a Sylheti Bangladeshi-British artist, theatremaker and educator from Tower Hamlets. Her practice is grounded in anti-racism, postcolonialism and intersectional feminism. She holds a philosophy degree from University of St. Andrews and University of London, Birkbeck. Tasnim is developing her first full-length play THE FINAL TRUMPET which follows a mother & daughter who have lost their home in a terrible flood in an imaginary Bangladesh. Currently her freelance work includes Producer for the arts and refugees festival PLATFORMA 7 by Counterpoint Arts, Guest Artist with Coney and Assistant Producer/Director at Daedalus Theatre Company. She is also a trustee for Icon Theatre. Recently she was artist-in-residence at Oitij-jo and exhibited her play and artworks at MUKH.
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SONIA’Z FUSION
Sonia Sultana working as a dance performer also choreographer.I have finished my diploma in dance from 'Bangladesh Academy of fine Arts '(BAFA). Beside of that I have been trained by famous Guru's of Bangladesh e.g. Rahija khanom Jhunu and Kabirul Islam Ratan, also got opportunity to work with them in numerous occasions as a part of dance troop Nrittolok and BAFA. I do performs classical Katthak dance, Bangladeshi folk, Bollywood and cuban salsa. I have performed in numerous places in the UK as well as abroad. She is the founder of a dance group call 'SoniaZ Fusion'. I am an enlisted artist in Bangladesh Television(BTV). Here in the UK My big achievement is working for commonwealth baton relay 2022, ICC T20 tropthy representing Bangladesh also World Cup Cricket 2019.Acting and modelling is her hobby. Last 6 years working with a theatre group. Performed many time for season of bangla drama as a leading female character.
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ZAHRA AHMAD
Zahra is a London-based performance poet writing on themes including identity, mental health, and navigating life as a Muslim British-Bangladeshi woman of colour.
Zahra has been writing from a young age, venturing into the London poetry scene in 2019.
Most recently, she has featured at Write2Speak, Deen and Dunya, Mehfil Arts, and the Mayor of London’s Eid in the Square festival with WAW Creative Arts.
S. S. HAQUE
S S Haque is a British Bangladeshi poet and novelist who loves to bring her work to performance. She holds a master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and has published poetry and short fiction in journals for nearly a decade. She is currently writing a historical fiction set in sixth century Arabia.
OSHANTI AHMED
Oshanti Ahmed is a Bengali poet by the way of South London. She is a current member of the Southbank New Poets Collective 2022/2023 and an alumnus of the Barbican Collective 2021/22, Roundhouse Poetry Collective 2018/19 and the Writing Room 2018/19. Her work has been featured on the FADER and BBC Radio 4 and she has performed both nationally and internationally including Brave New Voices, Brainchild Festival, Latitude and The Haye Festival.
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ANIWA
Aniwa is a 24 year old Bengali musician based in South West London. Self taught on the guitar, she began writing songs on her bedroom floor three years ago. She writes ethereal, sweet melodies that immerse you into her world, and is inspired by musicians such as The Sundays, Frou Frou and Taylor swift. Her upcoming EP is taken from the worlds of indie pop, rock, and folk as she continues to explore the different genres that her songwriting takes her.
KHIYO
Bringing a London sound to Bengali music, Khiyo’s radical and fresh interpretation of songs from the Bengali tradition draws from rock, folk, and Indian and Western classical music. They signed to ARC Music in 2015, releasing two albums on the label, Khiyo (2015) and Bondona (2022), following this latter with an appearance at WOMAD the same year. Both albums received excellent reviews and were featured in Songlines' 'Top of the World' albums. In 2018, they scored the award-winning documentary film Rising Silence (Leesa Gazi, Bangladesh / UK / India 2019).
Khiyo is fronted by third-generation vocalist Sohini Alam who is also part of Lokkhi Terra, GRRRL and is featured in multiple productions by dancer/choreographer Akram Khan including DESH and Until The Lions.
SAUDHA
Title: Melodies of Mystic Minstrels
Directed by poet and folk singer Ahmed Kaysher, this haunting art-production is bringing a unique presentation of Bengali Baul, Sufi and Vaishnav Music mingled with Occitan Trobadour with complementing verses of ancient poetry from different traditions of the globe as well as visual interpretation by dazzling dance.
The session features two of the most talented interpreters of Indian classical music Koyel Bhattacharya (vocal) and Kuntal Das (Tabla), Ahmed Kaysher (Vocal), Pretom Saha (keyboard), Erik Schelander (Trobadour), Shree Ganguly (Spoken-words), Asmitha Keer (Dance), Sohel Ahmed.
TARA LILY
Growing up in south London with a strong connection to her British-Bengali heritage has given Tara Lily a unique perspective on music and global culture. She has spent her life absorbing a multitude of sounds and genres from her surroundings, ranging from alternative R&B to classical jazz and traditional Bengali folk music. It was this intriguing blend of sounds and her deep understanding of the worlds they come from which caught the attention of the likes of Virgil Abloh, Gilles Peterson, Iggy pop and Motown Records UK, who signed Tara as their first British artist.
HASZNAT
Bengali, Non-Conforming Audio-Visual Punk Artist, based in London, with an eye for all things avant garde and against the binary.
Combining Audio - Visual sensory pleasures, HASZNAT is the new generation Punk that is here to “PROVOKE MINDS AND INVOKE EMOTIONS”.
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SHAMA ANWAR
Shama is a British-born, Bangladeshi DJ living in East London. Growing up listening to everything from grime to Bollywood, her sets naturally take the same course. Mixed genres have always been an influence within her life through her culture as well as her personal preference which is now reflected in her work.
Shama began throwing parties at the Ace Hotel in London in early 2013, from then went on to throwing parties all around London, throughout the EU, US and South Asia including Berlin, Paris and New York and New Delhi.
SPITXL
SpitXL is an experimental music project that sonically explores the themes of sex and substance within the psyche of a queer body. An implosion of noise, with statically charged highs, and chest numbing lows. The project deconstructs sounds, styles and genres to reform them into a textural soundscape. Overlaid are these erotic vocals which overtly embody the glamorous filth of drugs, sex and music.
Emerging from the Birmingham/London queer scenes, SpitXL draws huge inspiration from 90's tech-house, techno and UK dub, taking you on a visceral experience through his vision.
DEBONAIR
DEBONAIR has cemented a reputation as one of London’s essential DJs. As a selector, programmer, presenter and A&R, she is deeply embedded in emerging artistic scenes and is most energised when operating at the intersection of contrasting media.
Having dedicated herself to the city’s scene by serving as Programme Director of influential radio station NTS at the start of its journey, she stepped out as a DJ and went on to melt minds at iconic spaces such as Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and London Fashion Week and has toured over four continents. Join a DEBONAIR dancefloor and you’ll experience her turn curveballs and previously unheard gems into anthems no matter where she goes: from Berlin’s Panorama Bar to Shenzhen’s Oil, to San Francisco's notorious Folsom Street afterparty, New York’s heralded Nowadays or Londons Fabric.
Come through for life affirming music and the joy of blissful discovery.
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MUSIC -
PROVHAT RAHMAN (HOST)
Provhat is a London based producer, founder of the Daytimers collective and co-founder of Dialled In festival.
Utilising both platforms to create more opportunities for artists within South Asian communities to celebrate themselves whilst doing what they love has been his primary focus over the past 2 years; all whilst raising over £50,000 for a number of charities around the world through events, livestreams and label releases.
With personal releases on More Time, Rhythm Labs + an ever growing bank of unreleased dubs, Provhat is set to keep developing his productions and platforms into the future, whilst continuing to champion under-appreciated artistry.
AMENA ZAMAN
(Speaking on the life and work of her late brother Sam State of Bengal)
Formerly a teacher, Zaman worked at youth centres. State of Bengal was a DJ at the Anokha club in London's East End during the mid-1990s. His tracks "Flight IC408" and "Chittagong Chill" – written and produced with Matt Mars – were featured on Anokha – Soundz of the Asian Underground compilation, and helped him gain prominence. Singer Björk discovered his work at Anokha, he opened for her on the Homeogenic world tour, and remixed her track "Hunter", also signing to the One Little Indian record label. State of Bengal took up residency at the 333, in Hoxton on the Off Centre club nights, he continued with his DJ and did extensive remix work. He produced his debut album, Visual Audio in 1998 which also featured Suzana Ansar and followed that up with Walking On, a collaboration with Ananda Shankar in 1999. His next album was also a collaboration, Tana Tani with Paban Das Baul, in 2004 and then in 2007 he released Skip-ji on his own record label. Alongside his DJ and music work, Zaman continued to teach and deliver music workshops
ANSUMAN BISWAS
Ansuman Biswas works in a wide variety of media, but his central concern lies between science, work and religion.
Over the last few years his work has included directing Shakespeare in America, translating Tagore’s poetry from the Bengali, designing underwater sculptures in the Red Sea, living with wandering minstrels in India, being employed as an ornamental hermit in the English countryside, touring with Bjork, spending two days blindfolded in an unknown place, travelling with shamans in the Gobi Desert, playing with Oasis, collaborating with neuroscientists in Soweto, being sealed in a box for ten days with no food or light, making a musical in a maximum security prison, re-designing Maidstone High Street, being a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, running seminars on democracy for monks in a Burmese monastery, being confined to a gothic tower for forty days and forty nights, and even flying on a real magic carpet in Star City, Moscow.
Improvisation and play are important elements in his practice, and at its core is the technique of vipassana meditation.
LUCY RAHMAN
Lucy is a singer of international repute. Born into a family of famous Bangladeshi musicians, she was trained in semi-classical Indian music and was recognised by her music college as the most promising vocalist of her generation.
Lucy now lives in England and is one of Gran Union’s lead singers. She has starred in countless stage, television, and radio shows, and has performed internationally at well-known venues in New York, Berlin, Brussels and Paris.
ART -
ZARINA MUHAMMAD (HOST)
The White Pube is the collaborative identity of Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad under which they publish reviews and essays about art etc. You can find them at thewhitepube.com or on twitter and instagram at @thewhitepube.
JANNAT HUSSAIN
Jannat Hussain is a London based interdisciplinary artist and creative facilitator. She holds a MA and BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. Her practice orientates the space between internal realities and outward expression, where her close observation of the self and interpersonal moments translates highly emotive responses.
Her current concerns lie in unpacking different forms of intimacy, while simultaneously exploring clay, sculpture, and performance. Hussain has previously created paintings, textile works, installations and video works, resulting in a visceral manifestation of cross-cultural, spiritual, and socio-political considerations. Hussain’s work is experiential, operating on the erudition of feeling. It comprises of extrapolating moments in her life that are worthy of rendering, to map her emotional landscape, or better understand the world(s) around her.
She has exhibited in various gallery and public settings, including the Tate Britain, V&A, The Albany Theatre, and was part of the first student led show at The Lethaby Gallery. Some of her latest exhibitions include one of the largest curated events taking place during London’s Frieze week, where she showed a 20-piece sculpture at The Factory Project.
MOHAMMED ADEL
Mohammed Adel (b.1997) is a London based painter. He is interested in making large scale works that incorporates Islamic, Bengali/South Asian and personal imagery into a painterly language that utilises composition, light, softness and a balance between abstraction and representation to construct scenes instilled with stillness, beauty and questioning. He is inspired by ideas of personal, impersonal, remembrance, memory, forgetting and norms.
Adel received his BA from Camberwell University of Arts London and is currently going into his postgraduate at The Royal Academy.
Mohammed has exhibited most recently with Jhaveri Contemporary (2023), Brighton Art Festival (2023), twice at French Riviera Gallery (2022, 2022), Art Bypass Gallery (2022), The Factory Project (2021).
MOHAMMED Z. RAHMAN
Mohammed Z Rahman (he/they) is a British-Bengali visual artist and writer based in London. His work addresses the socio-political through the domestic. Mohammed’s literary output includes short stories, poetry and creative non-fiction. His visual output includes illustration, zines and painting.
With a background in social anthropology (BA, SOAS), Mohammed approaches art as an intimate and political force probing and mutating the ordinary. Drawing on dreamscapes, globality, queerness, biography and socio-historical perspectives, he creates work that celebrates his communities’ internationalist dreams, disrupts violent power structures and makes peace with unspeakable chaos.
RAHEMUR RAHMAN
Rahemur Rahman is a London-born Bangladeshi designer who graduated from Central Saint Martins, where he now teaches. Rahman reinterprets narratives of South Asian identity and craftsmanship, actively decolonizing heritage craft and artisanal textiles. Focusing on innovative tailoring and traditional natural dyeing techniques, his pieces blend diasporic history and tradition with fantasy. Rahman is also active in his community as an organizer of workshops for youth and projects that shine a light on the experience of immigrant communities in London.
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SHEHZAD CHOWDHURY - DEAR KINDEST, 2022, 22 minutes
Shehzad Chowdhury is a multidisciplinary artist and an independent curator. He splits his time between drawing and photographing his journey, which he calls "The Lotus Quest". He takes inspiration from the baul -fakiri traditions of Bengal, mythology and nature.
RAGHEEB MOAZZEM - IN YOUR MIND, 2021, 3 mins 14 seconds
Hi, I’m Ragheeb F. Moazzem, a visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Originating from the vibrant heart of Dhaka, my artistic journey centers on photography and filmmaking, both uniquely tailored to capture the vibrant subcultures and intriguing individuals that define my city. Through my lens, I craft a tribute that immortalizes the city’s pulse and spirit, an ode resonating with its energy.
Characterized by its quirkiness and audacity, my artistic style seeks to magnify the unconventional allure of our surroundings. My portfolio proudly bears the imprints of collaborations with local and international agencies, showcasing my versatility across various roles. For me, the essence of creative synergy lies in the shared process of crafting extraordinary narratives.
As I tread new horizons, I am currently attending Johns Hopkins University. My focus is on VR and AR, fueled by a fervent curiosity and a commitment to unravel the potential of immersive storytelling.
PUER DEORUM - MARKING OF A NEW MOON, 2023, 5 minutes 57 seconds
Creating continuums, cycles of movement and visions, distorted mirrors of earthly patterns. Refracting, retracing, rekindling memories, blurred like the recounting of a lucid dream of which the narrative was dug up from the subconscious mind. Slow but ephemeral like the transition of the sun over the shore disappearing before we know it while we gaze out onto the horizon. An illusion; enticement - the moment we scramble to memorise the moments fire and water were contiguous, entrancing, colours swept over by the darkness, an aftermath of the waves swallowing a star, caressing then absorbing our environments like a crescendo that peaks like a mountain - enigmatic but constantly present, the possibility of a threat to stability (preconceptions) looming, but ever-present.
Puer Deorum is an artist born and bred in London.
SARKER PROTICK - O GREAT LIFE
Sarker Protick’s photographs frequently build the narrative around the trope of change; momentary stillness, fleeting light, elemental origins of a place and a lost home. To make the decaying memory tangible, to define disappearing history of a place without confining it, Protick’s often minimal, suspended and atmospheric visuals are coherently open with vast and solemn distance. Working with Photography, Video and Sound, Protick's works are built on long-term surveys rooted in Bangladesh.
Protick studied at the South Asian Media Institute – Pathshala in Dhaka, where he is currently teaching for last nine years. Protick is a co-curator of Chobi Mela, the longest running International Photography Festival in Asia. His work has received several recognition and fellowships, including Joop Swart Masterclass, Foam Talent, Light Work Residency, Magnum Foundation Fund, World Press Photo Award etc.
Protick is represented by Shrine Empire in Delhi.
REYA AHMED - MARGINS OF A MEMORY, 2023, 1 minute 46 seconds
Reya’s practice explores storytelling devices, existing knowledges, cultural artefacts, and representation through an amalgamation of illustration, graphic design, printmaking and animation.
LAISUL HOQUE - THE PURPOSE WAS TO DOCUMENT THE OTHER SIDE, 2023, 13 minutes 45 seconds
Laisul Hoque is a multidisciplinary artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. His practice focuses on the idea of communication, using performance and image making to decode his lived experienced.
He earned a bachelor’s in literature from North South University and holds a master’s in photography and philosophy from Central Saint Martins, UAL.
AVITA MAHEEN - UBIQUITOUS ALLURING
Avita Maheen is a Bangladeshi media artist, writer and curator. Her work develops sensory sound installations and non linear narratives, and often incorporates anecdotal archives w/ autoethnographic research. Currently living in The Netherlands, Maheen founded the platforms "Chaya Chobi" and "Kalponik Rekha | Imaginary Terrain" composing experimental filmmaking and performative media art narratives.
SARAF MAZUMDER - CROSSROADS, Of Longings in The Crossroads of Dhaka, 7+ minutes
I am হৃ from Bangladesh, and only recently I have transitioned into identifying as a multidisciplinary artist. I experiment with photographs, videos, colors, writings and digital etcetera - all of which are an ambiguous effort to express both my rage and curiosity towards a take on linguistic, ethnic, and cultural formation and erasure of identities that are evolving as a result of decolonization.
FAHAD AL ALAM - WHERE IS MY MIND, 2021, 1 minute 43 seconds
Fahad Al Alam is a photographer and a teacher based in Dhaka. Born and raised in Naogaon, he later migrated to Dhaka. His main source of inspiration is nature where he often finds himself fascinated with our vast expanding universe through which we all float like specks of dusts.
UMMID ASHRAF - KEWAAJ, 2023, 1 minute 56 seconds
I was born in 1997. I'm a multidisciplinary artist and a professional colorist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. My photographic journey started in 2016 out of boredom. Photography and music has helped me make some sense of my surroundings and myself. It is a way for me to understand what I am going through. It has changed my life.
TAHA ISMAIL - RISE, 3 minutes 11 seconds
Taha Ismail is a Bangladeshi filmmaker, artist & creative director based in London. He is the founder of Collective Unconscious - a creative production studio & collective working across arts, culture & entertainment. The company won the Incubation Lite Award in 2022 and has since operated out of Design District.
Taha is a London Film School & Ravensbourne alumnus. His work explores storytelling from a deeply personal space, blending reality and fiction. He recently won the gold prize at the acclaimed 1.4 Awards in London for his creative short ‘Rise’.
Taha has worked across the UK, US & Bangladesh. His work has been showcased on US television, Aesthetica, Alaska Airlines IFE, Austin Music Video Festival, and featured across acclaimed platforms such as BBC, Omeleto, 1.4, BOOOOOOOM, & MYM amongst others.
AASHNAI SYEDA - JATA JATAYAT, জাটা যাতায়াত, 2023, 6 minutes
Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aashnai is an aspiring filmmaker embracing the world of experimental cinema. Working in the TV and film industry in Bangladesh as an assistant director, she has started her directorial journey into poetic cinema.
Intertwining prose with disorienting aural design taken from the real world, her work revolves around the graphic=rhythmic imaginary, elaborating on the symbolic poetics of space in Dhaka’s cityscape in a theatrical visual language that depicts the domestic grief of citydwellers.
NILOTPAL DAS - BLACK BOX RECOVERY, 2023, 8 minutes 8 seconds
Nilotpal Das was born on 27th September 2001 in Kolkata, India. By age 16, he started listening to various records and got into learning music production through Youtube tutorials and self-improvised methods. He made some releases and started doing unpaid DJ performances with his childhood friend Rohan Thakuri a few years later.
In 2020 he started his solo project Bios Contrast.
2023 marks a crucial point in his career as he dives into more experimental music and starts a side project under Nilotpal Das where he releases music that doesn't fall under any genre or description. In his latest project, he records Drone pieces of Harmonium and experiments with how long a musical instrument can be played continuously without breaks.
ENAMUL HOQUE - PORTRAIT OF BAUL - Guru Pagla Bablu Baul, 2014, 7 minutes 53 seconds
Enamul Hoque (1968 - 2022) British-Bangladeshi photographer and filmmaker and fine artist based. His photographic work has been featured in various international magazines and exhibitions worldwide. He worked on various campaigns for brands such as General Motors, Kodak, Nike, Virgin, Sony, Vauxhall and YKK among others. Hoque as a filmmaker and partner in Underbelly Film and made and produced films since 2003. His films have been exhibited and screened in museums and galleries such as American institute of Architecture, Guggenheim, ICA, MUDAC. Enamul was a founding trustee of Oiti-jo, British-Bangladeshi arts charity.
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LIVE STAGE HOST: SALWA RAHMAN
COMMUNITY ARTWORK LEAD ARTIST: TUMPA FELLOW
CATERING: OITIJ-JO KITCHEN
ART DIRECTION: NODEE NIRANJANA
MOTION GRAPHICS: MISBAH ANJUM JAMES
SOUND ENGINEERING: ANDREW MARIOTT
SECURITY & WELFARE: SAFE ONLY
FILM PROGRAMME CURATORS: AVITA MAHEEN & ZUBAYR HOSSAIN
PROGRAMME CURATOR: PUER DEORUM
PRODUCER: MAHER ANJUM
PHOTOGRAPHY: ADIB CHOWDHURY & LAISUL HOQUE
VIDEOGRAPHY: KATE S & SAMUEL SIERRA
VOLUNTEERS: WAJIHAH AHMED, ADIL RAHMAN, AMIR HAMZA & WAZID MOHAMMED ABDUL
DONATIONS & SUPPORT: Sonna African Textiles, Sanger Textiles, Classic Shoes, Universal Shoes, Garden of Eden, Build Hollywood, Whitechapel Gallery, People’s History of Petticoat Lane, Tower Hamlets Council and Toynbee Hall.
