Current exhibition
Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003
20 June 2024 – 21 February 2025
From ‘The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green’ to ‘Bonkers’, the people of London’s East End have always appreciated a good tune. Our unique history, shaped by its connection to the river as a source of inspiration, work, and migration, has produced an extraordinary musical legacy, spanning everything from folk songs and sea shanties to music hall, jazz, punk, the Asian underground and grime.
Featuring over a hundred rare items selected from the collections of Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, this exhibition explores how our borough and its people have inspired and shaped popular music, both locally and globally, over four centuries.
Free entry! Please check opening hours before visiting.
Past exhibitions
What We Have Become
Thursday 28 March – Saturday 1 June 2024
A group show by five visual artists, curated by Basil Olton, exploring the impact of local and colonial archives on personal and collective identity.
Image by Basil Olton.
Brick Lane 1978: The Turning Point
2 December 2023 - 16 March 2024
This exhibition revealed the dramatic events in 1978 which were sparked by the racist murder of Altab Ali, a 24-year-old Bengali leather garments worker, and pays tribute to the activists who mobilised around the rallying cry of justice that followed.
Everything is Different, Nothing has Changed
15 August - 23 November 2023
The first ever exhibition of sound art inspired by the amazing collections of oral history and archival audio held at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives.