The ‘Lotus Group’, a Bangladeshi women’s group started to meet at the People’s Museum in Somers Town. We began by investigating Sylheti folk tales to the English fairy tales that inspired the local St Pancras Housing artworks. They sang songs and shared life stories from a first generation Bangladeshi female diaspora.
In 2023 we were delighted when the then Mayor of Camden Cllr. Nazma Rahman suggested we produce a book from the stories and songs we’d gathered under the careful guidance of Shahnaz Ahmed, and artwork the women made from collage workshops with artist Zoë Douglas-Cain. Her collage artwork interprets some of the folk stories.
This book is aimed at an audience of young Bangladeshi people, curious but lacking basis in their family culture, and is in English, Bengali and Sylheti languages.
Please use the QR codes to access Sylheti audio of songs and stories.
This will be a legacy of the work of the women and will help disseminate hidden histories, connecting the young to older generations and value the contribution and life stories of their female elders.
