Shahena Begum

St Margaret’s House’s 12th Artist In Residence, January - March 2025

Shahena Begum brought her community-based illustration practice to the studio from January-March.

Shahena spent the three months exploring the areas across East London which held strong memories for her, doodling, painting and writing these memories through intricate and playful maps. Place played a huge role within the residency explorations – Shahena, as a British Bengali woman, offered a powerful insight into the feelings of belonging (or lack therefore of) when situated in a community that is rooted in tradition that is also surrounded by constant change through gentrification.

Working through these themes brought on a deeply personal body of work: the ‘Memories in East London’ exhibition in the Chapel. Here, Shahena produced over 15 pieces of original work (including hand-designed coloring-book pages; a large-scale map of East London; hand sewn ‘sarees of home’ including Bangladesh, Bethnal Green, Istanbul and Palestine; the ‘brown buildings of Bethnal Green’ portrait).

In addition to the exhibition, Shahena organised a Community Eid Party, which invited local community members to come together to eat, create and socialise. Within the event, participants could take part in a mehndi workshop led by a local artist, buy art from local venders (Viva Palestina & East African Collective) and eat delicious food from a local caterer (funded by Clarion Futures)

We look forward to working with Shahena again over the coming months, as she will be one of the facilitators of our new monthly Art Cafe starting on 13 May.