Pieces of Legacy: a tribute to the Windrush generation

This year’s Windrush Day marks 77 years since the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex, a pivotal moment in British history. The day celebrates the lasting contributions of the Windrush generation and all African-Caribbean migrants who came to the UK in the post-war period.

To commemorate this important anniversary, we spoke with Dionne Ible, founder of Qemamu Mosaics, who recently unveiled a mosaic artwork Pieces of Legacy celebrating the lives and stories of those who settled in Luton.

'I found common themes emerging: it was so cold and grey, and they wanted to go home,' Dionne says. 'I wanted to get some elements of Luton in there: the Town Hall, the ship or airplane they arrived on, the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where a lot of the women came to work as nurses, and Vauxhall Motors, where my Dad worked. It struck me that the arriving passengers wore their ‘Sunday best’, not knowing what the weather was going to be like.'

Pieces of Legacy took 40 days to complete, a period filled with late nights and a few mishaps. “By the end I was working on it every day: cut fingers, late nights, I even broke one of my tools!' Dionne recalls.

Stained glass, her preferred medium, gives the figures in the work a powerful luminosity. 'I work quite intuitively, and things come to me as I’m making them. The little girl’s bright dress brought a lovely contrast and I didn’t want to go with black suits for the men, though I know a lot of them wore grey, brown and black.'

The vibrant blue sky that frames the foreground was a late addition inspired by her son. 'I was waiting for more grey tiles to arrive, my son suggested I make the sky in blue stained glass.'

Creating a sense of movement through the mosaic figures was a priority for Dionne. 'You have to think about how to create that movement before you cut,' Dionne says. 'It took me three attempts to get the man’s blue jacket correct.'

The mosaic was unveiled during a special celebration day in Luton. 'My Dad was invited to speak about his experiences, and another lady I’d interviewed spoke too,' Dionne says. 'We hosted a Q&A, which really helped people appreciate the work and the stories that went into the mosaic.'

Dionne hopes to take the work around to various locations. 'It doesn’t have to be stationary just yet. It would be great to have an exhibition that uses the mosaic to highlight the stories of the elders.'

The work was funded by Revoluton Arts.