Tottenham’s hidden histories

A new photography exhibition is celebrating Tottenham’s heritage and culture.Tottenham Through a Pinhole opened a Bruce Grove Youth Space on 28th November, and runs until 10th December.

The exhibition follows a series of work- shops delivered by Pinhole London in October, which invited local residents and young people to explore the heritage of their area through analogue photography.

The result is a striking series of more than 200 images, which provide a snap- shot of Tottenham and its “hidden his- tories”. These include images of Bruce Castle and Bruce Castle Park, traders at Holcombe Market and the youth space itself. The exhibition organisers also intend to install large-scale versions of select images outside of the youth space.

A Pinhole London spokesperson said the workshops are intended to “show- case the creative and cultural heritage of the people and locality, and cham- pion collaborative, non-competitive and non-commercial ways of making contemporary art.”

Pinhole photography is a 200-year- old technique which uses the sim- plest form of camera possible – a light-tight container loaded with photographic paper. For the work- shops in Tottenham, upcycled alu- minium cans were used to construct the cameras. The Pinhole London team then developed the images in a darkroom alongside participants.

The Pinhole London spokesperson added: “The participants took amaz- ing photos, and if you look closely, in many images you can see a close up view of their hand or finger, as this is the moment when the tape is removed to allow light to pass onto the pinhole camera to create a photograph.

“They also had an extraordinary experience in the darkroom, seeing the alchemy of the developing trays as their very own photo emerged.” The project is part of the wider High

Street Heritage Action Programme. Delivered by Historic England, the programme aims to breathe new life into high streets across the UK using £95 million of government funding.