Town’s dwellers tell their stories

Digital Journeys consists simply of Swindonians talking about how they came to be here.

Some were born in Swindon while others arrived only weeks or months before appearing in front of the camera. Most are not in public life although some are, and one helped to change the history of the world for the better.

They tell stories of love, of family, of work, of fleeing oppression, but what all have in common is that they have found security and happiness in their adoptive community.

Create Studios co-director Marilyn Fitzgerald said: “Some people arrived days or weeks ago, others have been here for generations, and we wanted to explore the journeys that brought us all to this town – a hundred and seventy five years after Brunel brought his railway here.

“So we basically thought of people from all over, or who had been born in Swindon, who we thought would be interesting to talk to on camera and would be willing to talk on camera about why they’ve stayed in Swindon, why they came or why they’ve returned here.

“We chose about 40 people and put a bit of everybody we interviewed in. Our director, Gurch Singh, put all that together for the film that’s showing at Steam, and it’s also available online.”

The piece is shown alongside Enlightenment, an interactive artwork consisting of ropes of light which change colour when touched. Enlightenment was made by international artists’ group Squidsoup.

Create is a not-for-profit digital arts studio whose work includes a variety of art projects, exhibitions and backing for artists. Any profits are ploughed into providing free projects to Swindon.

The idea for digital journeys came from Marilyn’s fellow Create director, Shahina Johnson, whose family came originally from Pakistan. She wanted a film to reflect the sheer diversity of the circumstances which bring people to the town.

Filming was done late last year, and a decision was taken to caption every participant only with their first name and a few words about their background.

Marilyn said: “We wanted everybody to be the same and so we just use christian names for everyone – the way that it is with schools these days. You generally use christian names for the children and we wanted the adults to be the same. It’s quite affectionate.

“Gurch’s father is in the film, as is my father who sadly died during the making of the film, so we put a little tribute to my dad at the end.

“We approached some young people from the Harbour Project who are refugees and asked whether they’d liked to be interviewed. We had to get permission for them to be in the film and they had to come and see the film before it was made public. They were very pleased with it.

“Just knowing everyone by their christian name in the film is how we are at Create. We’re inclusive and democratic. That reminds me of how kind and democratic Swindon is, and I hope that’s reflected in our film – what a kind and innovative place it is to live.

“It’s a celebration of Swindon, as we always like to do at Create.”

The cross section of Swindonians in the film could hardly be broader.

There’s Jan, for example, a massage therapist whose father was from Poland, classed himself as Byelorussian and left his homeland amid the terror of World War Two. He eventually found himself in Gloucester.

Jan’s maternal grandfather was an Italian prisoner of war.

There’s Lily the student, middle child of three: “I’ve lived here my whole life, but my family are kind of global. So for example my Aunt’s from South Africa and my granddad is from Pakistan but my great-grandma, she’s from Burma.

“She migrated to Pakistan during the war. She walked from Burma to Pakistan with a newborn baby, feeding it condensed milk and went through a lot of trials and troubles along the way.”

There’s Joe the storyteller who came to Britain many years ago after seeing a magazine advert inviting him to join the RAF and see the world.

There’s Ken the artist, who began his working life by following local tradition and heading for the Railway Works.

There’s James the printer and former US marine, who married a British woman, found a map and worked his way west of London until he located a place where houses were affordable.

“My heart will always belong to Texas,” he says, “but I love where I live now.”

There’s Garry the councillor, who recalls learning that 104 home languages were spoken in the borough’s primary schools: “It just seems to gel exceptionally in Swindon.”

There’s Angela the blogger: “What I thought about Swindon when I first arrived can be, I think summed up in one phrase. ‘The land of milk and honey’ Is what I thought of Swindon. I came here from a part of the world devastated by the 1980s pit closures.”

There’s Joel the human rights lawyer, who had planned to leave South Africa and its Apartheid regime in 1960.

Then he was asked to defend a certain Nelson Mandela and some ANC comrades, who faced death by hanging on sabotage charges: “Happily we managed to save their lives. The Australians said they didn’t want me and they declared me a prohibited immigrant. The South Africans then took away my passport and so I came to London as an immigrant without a passport.”

There’s Tahir, a refugee who travelled to England clinging to the underside of a bus: “The government is coming and killing people and destroying everything you have. Everything you built in your life they’re going to take away. So we ran to get away from the danger. I was afraid but I had no choice.”

There’s Nan from Nairobi in Kenya who came to England at three months old and manages the Harbour Project, which helps refugees: “The people who come to our project, the visitors, see Swindon as their home because it’s the safe place now for them. They’ve escaped war and persecution but where they are now they are safe.”

Marilyn said of the film: “It does feel like a piece of social history. It doesn’t feel like that when you’re doing it, but when you’ve done it and you look back on these things years and years later, of course it’s a piece of social history.”

The exhibition at Steam runs until April 15, and Digital Journeys can be viewed online at https://vimeo.com/157950149

Create’s website is http://createstudios.org.uk