Rough Guide: Brick Lane

Brick Lane

is a long street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of Osborn Street. Today, it is the heart of the city's Bangladeshi-Sylheti community, and is known locally as Banglatown.

History

Winding through fields, the street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane, but derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture, using the local brick earth deposits, that began in the 15th century. By the 17th century, the street was being built up from the south. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis.The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour. Brewing came to Brick Lane before 1680, with water drawn from deep wells. One brewer was Joseph Truman, who is first recorded in 1683, but his family, particularly Benjamin Truman, went on to establish the sizeable Black Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane.

The Brick Lane Market, developed in the 17th century for fruit and vegetables, sold outside the city. The Sunday market, like the ones on Petticoat Lane and nearby Columbia Road, dates from a dispensation given to the Jewish community. It is centred around the junction with Cheshire Street and Sclater Street and sells bric-a-brac as well as fruit, vegetables and many other items. Nearer to the junction with Hanbury Street are two indoor markets; Upmarket and Backmarket.
Emma Elizabeth Smith was viciously assaulted and robbed in Osborn Street, the part of Brick Lane that meets Whitechapel High Street, in the early hours of April 3, 1888. It was one of the first of the eleven Whitechapel Murders, some of which were attributed to the serial killer, Jack the Ripper.

In 1742, La Neuve Eglise, a Huguenot chapel, was built on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street. By 1809, it had become The Jews’ Chapel, for promoting Christianity to the expanding Jewish population, and became a Methodist Chapel in 1819 (John Wesley having preached his first covenant sermon at the nearby Black Eagle Street Chapel). In 1898, the building was consecrated as the Machzikei HaDath, or Spitalfields Great Synagogue. In 1976, it became the London Jamme Masjid (Great London Mosque) to serve the expanding Bangladeshi community.The building is Grade II* listed.Early Bangladeshi immigrants in the area attracted more larger immigration from Bangladesh in particular from the Greater Sylhet region, where many settled in the area of Brick Lane. These settlers helped shape Bangladeshi migration to Britain, families from Jagannathpur and Bishwanath tend to dominate in the Brick Lane area.

Revival

In the 20th century the Brick Lane area was important in the second wave of development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh (mainly the Greater Sylhet region) migrated to London to look for work. Some curry houses of Brick Lane will not sell alcohol as most are run by Muslims). More recently the area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane. Bengalis in the United Kingdom settled in big cities with industrial employment. In London, many Bengali people settled in the East End. For centuries the East End has been the first port of call for many immigrants working in the docks and shipping from Chittagong port in Bengal (British Empire in India was founded and based in Bengal). Their regular stopover paved the way for food/curry outlets to be opened up catering for an all male workforce as family migration and settlement took place some decades later. Humble beginnings such as this gave birth to Brick Lane as a famous curry house centre for London. Curry is eaten in almost all part of the Indian sub-continent and nearby regions, namely , Bangladesh,India and Pakistan. It has varying degrees of style, taste and aroma, depending on which local ingredients are used. Bengalis of Sylheti origin constitute only 10% of all South Asians in Britain; however around 90% of all Indian restaurants in the UK are Sylheti/Bengali owned.

Since the late 1990s, Brick Lane has been the site of several of the city's best known night clubs, notably 93 Feet East and The Vibe Bar, both built on the site of The Old Truman Brewery, once the industrial centre of the area, and now an office and entertainment complex.
Nearby buildings of interest include Christ Church, Spitalfields, The Jamme Masjid or Great London Mosque on the corner of Fournier Street - the building represents a history of successive communities of immigrants in East End, and the head office of Habitat on Princelet Street.
Brick Lane is world famous for its graffiti, which features artists such as Banksy, D*Face and Ben Eine. The lane has been used in many music videos such as "Glory Days" by Just Jack and "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers. The nearest tube station is currently Aldgate East. A campaign has been launched to change the name of the station to "Brick Lane" by 2012, but this has no official support. Upon the reopening of the East London Line in 2010, the new Shoreditch High Street station of the London Overground will be very close to Brick Lane.

Recent Culture Wars

The street is the location for Monica Ali's book Brick Lane, published in 2003, also a film of 2007 starring Tannishtha Chatterjee. The novel provoked a controversy with some of the local Asian community because of a perceived negative portrayal of them. Parts of the Bengali community were particularly opposed to plans by Ruby Films to film parts of the novel in the Brick Lane area, and formed the "Campaign Against Monica Ali's Film Brick Lane." Consequently the producers of the film used different locations for certain scenes, such as that depicting Brick Lane Market. Despite this the director of the film, Sarah Gavron, attests on the DVD commentary of the film that genuine footage of Brick Lane does appear in the finished movie.

My Pictures

fantasy and fear

My immediate feeling when entering the gallery was a feeling of being lost in a fairy tale or walking into a children's book. The airy feeling you got when entering continued as my eye scanned quickly through the Forest Glade as I felt as if I was trying to escape from something trailing behind me. It was a feeling of Little Red Riding Hood meets Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. The works were a bit odd at first, but when I really looked at each object they made sense to why they were there along with the sections as to which they were put in. The 'Bathboat' by Wieki Somers made you feel as if you could escape from this forest right away and find safety. The work in the Forest Glade was all a sense of elegance and Victorian with the lace and delicate quality that some of the pieces had, but over all the pieces were all intriguing, beautiful and creatively crafted.

In the Forest glade I liked the 'Fig Leaf' wardrobe by Tord Boontje. The image of it was just memorizing with its height and cascade of beautifully crafted leaves with hand panted strokes and eye catching luster as the light hit it and your eye examined every detail. It had a feeling of power to it and the size made you feel as if you were below it in power. When it opened, it felt like wings coming out to grab you and protect you from what was ever out to harm you. Tord Boontje regards the fig as a symbol of fertility, associating it with oases and the biblical notion of Paradise. The snake persuaded Adam and Eve to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. They then fell from grace and were expelled from Paradise, wearing only fig leaves to hide their new found shame. Ironically, the wardrobe only becomes 'dressed' when its user is not.
The Enchanted Castle was my favorite section of the exhibition. It was large in size and felt as if you were in the halls or court of a king or queen. The objects were very ornately detailed and looked expensive and less rugged. Some shinned like diamonds and were covered in gold and metallic while others were beautifully crafted marble and ceramic. My Favorite pieced from the Enchanted Castle was the 'Robber Baron' jewel safe by Job Smeets. The Clown head made you feel like you were playing with the jester in a castle, but its scary look of greed and evil made you take a step back and really look at the meaning behind this not so happy clown. Its face was cast in gold and its panted mouth and other features popped out against the luster of the shinny metal. The bugs crawling around the vase on top of the clowns head gave you a creepy feeling but the chunks of gold that the clowns head was mounted on looked as if it was a thing of beauty and pulled you eye in to look for more. This piece showed the ugly side of success and how money and power can lead to greed and sorrow. The people you walk over to get to a higher power are the ones that will have the last laugh in the end. The tiny bugs crawling along the vase were these people.
Heaven and Hell was a very interesting part of the exhibit but I found it difficult to really see some of the objects though the small openings that you were meant to see that pieces from. I really liked the 'Sensory Deprivation Skull' by Joep van Lieshout and I also liked the 'Perished bench' by Job Smeets. I had a hard time choosing which I liked better. The 'Sensory Deprivation Skull' was so large in size and the idea of being able to sit inside of a skull to have a tea was just so great. I liked how it was simple with smooth lines and textures and not over done. it was obvious what it was but not to obvious at the same time. In the 'Perished Bench' the patten the skeleton of the dead animals were absolutely stunning and I would love this as wall paper somewhere in my house! It was also large and not your average look or size of an everyday bench. The top half looked like it was part of a screen with arms on each side with the bottom half for the sitting area. The colors were black and gold which helped to make the bones pop and grab the viewers attention.

The display of the objects in each section were all carefully though tout and helped to guide you on your path though the exhibition. In the Forest Glade you stated off with the honey comb vase and wooded objects and work your way through to the lace on the bed and chair and so on. The lighting was dimmed but highlighted the proper areas of the work. In the Honey Comb piece you could really see how it was transparent and its busy glowed through the carefully made individual combs. The Enchanted Castle was large and bright. Everything felt like it was looking back at you with the floor and walls looking like mirrors. The light hit the metallic objects just right as the stone, wood and ceramic objects also glistened and took you through out the rest of the story. In Heaven and Hell the objects were kept in very dark surroundings. The Marble lounge and light were dimly lite to give you the dark and dreary feeling but still showed off its beauty and detail. The other objects were in separate rooms where you had to look through small windows, which were also dimly lite. It gave them a dead feeling and put you mind in a different perspective. Each section was set up and divided in a way to make the objects relationship with one another feel like a complete story.

The proper display of your objects may help in table theater because it will help you to fully think of why you are choosing your objects and how can you best show off there meaning and best qualities. Also, if you do understand there meaning, the way you pair them up and making sure they compliment one another in a proper way so they re inspire you is important. By seeing the different feeling you get by just changing the lighting on an object is also another way to evoke another look and feeling to your objects that you may have not thought they had.

In all of the different areas of the exhibition the titles played and important role in every piece. My favorite title was in the Enchanted Castle room, the work was titled 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend 1' by Matali Crasset. I find this title to be very fun and flirty in a way. The object is a larger than life lantern in the shape of a huge diamond that you would find in a cave. Its sharp angles and cuts make it a wonderful work of art. If you gave any diamond this size to any girl I'm sure she would be your best friend for a very long time.
The second title that I found to be interesting was in the Heaven and Hell exhibition it was titled 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' by Kelly McCallum. In this piece you see a beautiful taxidermy fox with gold plated larvae crawling out. Its meant to embody life and death, as in the fox has died and with in it eggs have been laid and from the dead fox life comes out. In this case the life is gold, and crawling out of the what looks to be alive, fox. Very interesting, and the title was one that for sure caught my eye.

The Designer in the exhibition that I found myself most going back to and liking more than one of there pieces in the gallery was Job Smeets. I have a large infatuation with gold, luster and odd objects that may come off as creepy but can be made in to beautiful works of art. His piece 'Perished' bench the gold fossil looking pieces put in a patten against the black bench really look so nice together and could be a design all on its own. Also, in his piece 'Robber Baron' jewel safe his used gold again and the scary image of a clown to make greed look gorgeous. All of his work seems to have a feeling of sophistication and richness while still being out of the box and his own.