Interactive Caribbean Front Room

Caribbean Front  Room installation

Take a seat in Rose Sinclair’s interactive, digital Caribbean Front Room.

Rose tells the story behind each object, bringing them to life through her memories and expertise in Caribbean textiles and craft.

Pour yourself a glass of rum, press play on the Blue Spot Gram and immerse yourself in this loving recreation of the mid-century Caribbean Front Room.

 

 

Explore two interactive views of Rose Sinclair’s Caribbean Front Room installation:

 

A mythical space

The Caribbean front room has become a mythical space; a space remembered for its ornamentation, colour-clash and kitsch.

It’s a space that could be changed to suit any occasion; from funerals to christenings, wedding receptions to dances and even as the initial gathering place for many churches.

It’s a space to host visitors and special guests. A space for listening to the cricket on the Blue Spot gram or playing dominoes and drinking rum.

It’s also remembered as a space for making where women would gather, chit chat and craft. They made to decorate their homes and clothe their families, often in textiles groups like Dorcas clubs where skills and stories were shared across generations.

Objects carry with them ways of knowing and this installation focuses on the hidden legacy of the handmade crafting practices of the women of the Caribbean diaspora in the UK.

Stories of crochet, smocked cushions, embroidery and knitting, and how these decorated objects brought people together and contributed to their wellbeing.

About Rose

Rose Sinclair is a lecturer, researcher and designer, based in the Department of Design at Goldsmiths, University of London.

She has a passion for textiles and storytelling. Her research on Black women and how they craft and make with textiles combine these two passions.

@Dorcasstories