Handsworth Stories

Handsworth Stories is on at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, an exhibition looking at one of Britain's earliest and most significant multicultural communities. At its heart is Handsworth Songs, an award-winning documentary by the Ghanaian-born British artist John Akomfrah. He blends documentary, archive footage and music to capture the stories of Handsworth residents as the civil unrest of September and October 1985 spilled over into violent rioting.

Alongside the film, the display brings together photographs from the 1979 project Handsworth Self-Portrait. Photographers Derek Bishton, John Reardon and Brian Homer set up a pop-up outdoor studio on a Handsworth street and invited passers-by to sit for portraits that captured the reality of the area's people and communities. The exhibition is part of a city-wide programme by Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham exploring the legacy and continuing relevance of Handsworth Songs.

If you want a guided tour, there's guided access at 2pm for one hour and 15 minutes, Tuesday to Sunday in term time and every day during Birmingham school holidays. You'll meet at 1:50pm in the Round Room near the Statue of Lucifer by Jacob Epstein. Entry is free. The exhibition runs until 15 November, then it reopens on 15 December with unguided access, and it's closed 24-26 December and 1 January.