Exhibition captures Bollywood VHS-era memories

AN IMMERSIVE art installation celebrating the era of Bollywood VHS rental shops in the 1980s will take place in east London this month.

Jambo Cinema will see audiences go back in time as they return to the golden era of VHS tape and video shops, which are honoured in the exhibition.

Commissioned by Barbican for Leytonstone Loves Film festival, the venture will see artist Dawinder Bansal greet guests inside her Kenyan-Indian home.

The project began in 2016 as a tribute to Bansal’s late father. It was inspired by her experiences of living in her parents’ corner shop – Bansal Electrical. It sold electrical supplies and also rented out VHS video films to the newly arrived and established Indian and Pakistani migrant communities in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton.

“After (my father) passed away, we retained the shop stock, original VHS tapes, artwork, fixtures and fittings,” Bansal said. “As I began exploring the stock, I realised this was an important story about south Asian social history, and I wanted to create a new piece of artistic work which was deeply personal to me yet resonated with others”.

Jambo Cinema is described as a “multi-textural experience” allowing people to come into a curated space which is “authentically and thoughtfully made by the artist”.

The exhibition will take place next Saturday (28) and Sunday (29) at Leytonstone Library, Leytonstone, east London. Admissions are free.