Objeks & Tings

Interesting textiles, bright colours and tropical flora and fauna. Inspired by her heritage, our guest Tihara Smith, has created a fashion collection. Each piece celebrates the vibrant cultures of the Caribbean, with a London twist. Now also making art prints, greeting cards and accessories, this week Tihara speaks with Catherine and Lynda about what inspires her to celebrate the culture and history of the Windrush Generation.

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK, click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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A magazine, but not just any - when Ebony magazine came out in the 1945 it revolutionised the industry. For the first time, Black people in America and worldwide not only felt represented, but were also shown in a positive light. This week’s guest, Dawn-Maria France, talks about how her dream of becoming a journalist stemmed from the Ebony mags her mum used to buy her when she was growing up, as well as the importance of positive representation for the Windrush community. 

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Receipts. Not things that tend to elicit much of an emotional response, unless you are afraid of taxes that is. But this week guest Demi Bailey-Paul has a pretty special receipt for Catherine and Lynda to marvel over. She’s brought them a receipt for her grandad’s passage from Jamaica to the UK in 1961 and is as amazed as Catherine and Lynda that her grandad has kept it safe for so long. With her grandparents meeting in the UK this receipt marks not only her grandad’s journey to the UK but Demi’s ticket into existence so it’s a pretty powerful piece of paper!

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Catherine and Lynda speak to Wendy Leocque, a photographic artist living in Bristol. Wendy tells us all about her grandmother’s grip – the suitcase her grandmother used to bring a chosen few possessions from Jamaica to the UK. The trio discuss how the grip was a staple for the windrush generation but how everybody’s looked different and reflected their own personalities – whether that be from the exterior or the items contained within. We also hear how Wendy has repurposed her grandmother’s grip into a pinhole camera that she uses to take photos of other artefacts from the Windrush period. 

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Catherine and Lynda talk to actress Sabira Stanisavljevic about a photograph that was taken of her mother in Trinidad before she moved to the UK. Sabira explains that her mother has an expression of high concentration on her face in the photo because she was trying really hard to remember that moment. Decades on, it seems like it worked as Sabira's mother recounts that day often – it was the first time a photographer had ever come to their small town in Trinidad and so was a special moment for the whole family. 

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Lenny Bedward is the founder of Quantro Sound System – Nottingham’s first and arguably most famous sound system. Through a flyer to a night he played at with Quantro in 1974, we hear all about Jamaica’s legendary sound system culture and the ways in which it has developed in the UK thanks to pioneers such as Lenny. 

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Jocelyn is a British Barbadian event producer from Reading. She tells Catherine and Lynda all about a map of Barbados she inherited from her father. This map has been in her family ever since her dad came to the UK in the 70’s and she remembers it hanging on the wall of her family home. It now proudly hangs in her home and serves as a loving reminder of both her father and her bajan heritage.

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Catherine and Lynda speak to Riaz Phillips, author of Jamaican recipe books ‘Belly Full: Caribbean Food in the UK’ and ‘West Winds: Recipes, History and Tales from Jamaica ’. In his books, Riaz uses the stories of food and dining to explore his Jamaican background and so, perhaps unsurprisingly, has chosen his mother’s Dutch Pot as his object. Riaz tells us about getting his mum to show him how to cook his first curried goat in this pot a few years ago and we hear how Dutch Pots are a symbol of family gatherings in the Caribbean community.

This episode was a Message Heard production brought to you in partnership with Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell of The Caribbean Heritage Museum: Museumand. To find out more about the amazing work Museumand does to showcase Caribbean stories in the UK click here: https://www.museumand.org/

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Welcome to Objeks & Tings, the podcast that brings you stories about the objects Caribbeans cherish the most. Over 12 episodes, Museumand founders and mother-daughter duo, Catherine Ross and Lynda Burrell, will be joined by guests who each dive into the significance behind an object that represents their Caribbean heritage, and explore the role it played in their British upbringing.

Objeks & Tings is a brand new podcast collaboration between Message Heard and Museumand, The National Caribbean Heritage Museum.

Find out more

Learn more about The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, on their website Museumand, or on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Find out more about Message Heard our website at messageheard.com, or on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

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