1. Soho Hill The flyover leading from Birmingham city centre to the two-mile stretch of Soho Road. The area has one of the highest immigration and also poverty rates in the city.
2. The Birmingham Faiths Forum dinner - Once a year, representatives of Birmingham’s Buddhist, Christian, Jew, Jain, Muslim and Sikh communities gather for dinner in Birmingham Town Hall. The formal meal reflects differing dietary requirements.
3. Building the Gurdwara A Sikh trustee of Gurdwara Babe Ke shields from the wind at one of the highest points on Soho Road. The Gurdwara is a registered charity and finding the financial resources to complete the elaborate building development is a slow process.
4. Bedtime bible reading A priest’s daughter dressing in her father’s cassock alb.
5. Mrs. Little’s home communion Old age and poor health means Mrs. Little is no longer able to attend the church of St. Andrews on Soho Road. The Anglican priest celebrates communion in her front room every week with friends from the church.
6. Soho Sweet Centre The Hindu owners of the Sweet Centre, one of the many sweetshops on Soho Road, are Bollywood fans. Posters of Indian film and music stars are draped around the shop alongside statues of Hindu deities.
7. Polish Catholic carol singers The majority of Polish immigrants move to Soho Road area when they first arrive in Birmingham because of the cheap rent. The Polish community shows incredible devotion to Catholicism and their traditional religious practices. Young guides and scouts go carol singing in the Polish homes around Birmingham every year.
8. Sikh wedding, Soho Road Gurdwara A wedding party eats in Nanak Nishkam Gurdwara, the largest and wealthiest of five Gurdwaras on Soho Road. The temple bustles twenty-four hours a day with visitors praying and women making food in the vast kitchens, which distribute hundreds of free lunga meals.
9. Minba Chair, Pakistani mosque A terraced house converted into a Pakistani mosque. The Minba chair a replica of that used by Muhammad. It was made by the Sikh carpenters down the road.
11. Vietnamese Buddhist Temple The Vietnamese Buddhist temple community hall at the top of Soho Road. The hall is used for youth activities including Tai Chi, theatre and football.
12. Mrs. Adina Clarke’s church hats Jamaican-born Mrs. Adina Clarke and her daughter review her hat collection before church. In keeping with Jamaican tradition, Adina reserves a part of her wardrobe for Sunday clothes and refrains from wearing them for any occasion other than church. Elaborate hats are a striking sight on Soho Road buses every Sunday.
13. Sikh yoga Men partake in breathing exercises during their weekly yoga class on the Gurdwara hall floor. The Sikh instructor’s classes are very popular in Birmingham’s Gurdwaras.
14. Reverend Greg visiting the twins An Anglican priest wearing his traditional cassock regularly visits two twin sisters who have been members of his church since birth. The elderly twins have lived in the same house together all of their lives.
15. Sri Lankan Buddhist monks dormitory The bed of one of six Buddhist monks, his bodhi leaf shaped fan is used as a focal point when chanting. The Sri Lankan Buddhist temple has devotees who visit from over 100 miles away.
16. A. Jain’s personal prayer room Alka Jain prays outside her home prayer room wearing a mask traditionally worn by Jain Monks and Nuns in India. She is in her menstruation period; at this time a woman is seen as unclean and prohibited from entering holy places.
17. The visitor from India A Sikh priest visits a Gurdwara on Soho Road. He regularly receives calls on his mobile phone from contacts in India. He speaks no English.
18. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Indian Buddhist Temple Dr. B.R. Ambedkar revived Buddhism in India. The temple was set up in a disused factory near Soho Road by local Indian Buddhists. They have no resident monk.
19. First prayer mat A three-year-old in her kitchen with the ‘baby’ prayer mat used previously by her older brother and sister. It was given to her British-born Muslim mother and Pakistani-born father on the occasion of their arranged marriage.
20. The Jesus Army community house dining room The Jesus Army evangelical Christians have a large community house two doors away from the Thai Buddhist temple. In recent years a large number of immigrant Iranian Christian converts have joined the fellowship attracted by its social elements. The weekly meals in the community house cater to for 70 members.
21. Thai Buddhist Monk feeding the ducks, Handsworth Park Ram feeds the duck with the leftover bread from the temple on his way back from City College on Soho Road. He has daily English lessons and when he is fluent he envisages travelling internationally from temple to temple.
22. Meeting at the Rastafarian headquarters The Rastafarians were influential in Handsworth in the 1970s but their numbers have since diminished with the influx of Asian immigrants and internal political disagreements. They no longer have their own building to meet on the Sabbath.
23. Daughter of an Irish Catholic and Bengali Muslim A teenage schoolgirl in her home, which is filled with Catholic and Islamic items. Her Irish Catholic Mother and Bengali Muslim father have influenced her to practise both religions at different points in her life.
24. Gatka at the community centre Young Sikh boys and girls meet for Saturday morning martial art classes. The sport of Gatka is part of their religious tradition.
25. Backyard A group of Muslim children in the backyard of their terraced house. Their formal Islamic dress is only worn for their daily afterschool mosque class. The eldest boy checks the football results in the local paper; his sister speaks with their neighbour, a Jehovah’s Witness, over the fence.
26. The Monstrance, Monsignor Fallon’s Kitchen The housekeeper leaves the Catholic Priest’s dinner on his kitchen table every afternoon. She occasionally removes the monstrance from the church to be cleaned. The monstrance is the vessel used to display the consecrated Eucharistic Host.
27. Painted prayer, Catholic convent The Sisters of Mercy have offered social services to the community around Soho Road since 1841. The convent now contains a museum about their religious life. A prayer written by the nun who established the order is painted around the wall.
33. St. Francis Catholic primary school St. Francis School is one of the many faith schools in the area. There is a shrine and statue of the Virgin Mary in every classroom, and each week the students attend Catholic mass, however the children come from many different faith backgrounds. Muslim parents have requested Halal school dinners.
34. Dressing for mosque A couple changes into Islamic dress in their bedroom before visiting the mosque for afternoon prayer. The lady has over 50 different coloured scarf’s and many matching bags. She shops on Soho Road for the latest fashions.
35. King James audio bible Mrs. Little’s relative in America sent her a series of audiotapes containing the full King James Bible. It takes pride of place among many other printed bibles in her living room.
36. Muslim teenager’s one in five prayers Marwhen stops to pray during a walk around the local Reservoir. She trained in a London as a dentist but recently moved to Birmingham as she found it difficult to find any London dentist surgeries would allow her to wear the hijab at work.
37. Jain and Catholic neighbours Two young girls from different religious backgrounds play together. The Jain girl takes sitar lessons in her British school. The 7-year-old Catholic girl recently had her first Holy Communion and enjoys dressing in the traditional white dress she wore for the occasion.
38. Palm Sunday crosses An elderly disabled Jamaican lady surrounded by her collection of religious objects and posters. The crosses among the stuffed toys are kept from Palm Sunday church celebrations.
39. Polish Catholic chef A chef of Polish origin exhausted at the end of a shift during the Christmas season in the Polish Centre restaurant, Birmingham.
40. Hare Krishna book distribution outside a parish church A Brazilian-born Hare Krishna devotee hands out flyers on a December morning and invites people for dinner at the Soho Road temple. At the age of twenty he left his Native Brazil to preach about Krishna throughout Europe.
Liz Hingley (Birmingham, 1985)
‘Under Gods’
Stories from the Soho Road
I grew up as the daughter of two Anglican priests in Birmingham, one of the UK’s most culturally diverse cities where over 90 different nationalities now live. I was the only white child in my nursery class. I ate Indian treats at friends’ birthday parties and attended Sikh festivals in the local park. After travelling abroad and living in various other cities I became aware of the particularity of my upbringing. I developed an interest in the growth of multi-faith communities in European inner city contexts, and the attendant issues of immigration, secularism and religious revival.
Between 2007-2009, I explored the two-mile stretch of Soho Road in Birmingham, to document and celebrate the rich diversity of religions that co-exist there, and the reality and intensity of their different lifestyles. I lived with and visited the different religious communities, including Thai, Sri Lankan and Vietnamese Buddhists, Rastafarians, the Jesus Army evangelical Christians, Sikhs, Catholic nuns and Hare Krishna’s. The lively bus journeys along Soho Road on a Sunday were always insightful. They took Christian individuals to church congregations meeting in a tent in the local park or a school gym hall. Converted Iranian Jesus Army members in multi-coloured camouflage print outfits could be found sitting next to Jamaican-born ladies boasting decorative hats. I would hear Muslim girls sitting at the back speaking loudly about the latest fashions of the veil, whilst I chatted with Hare Krishna devotees on their way to central Birmingham to distribute books.
This work is a result of my own journey along Soho Road. I investigated what the people on the street believe their religion to be rather than what is prescribed by religious leaders or by the texts. For I see that faiths are interpreted differently depending on time, place and person. At a time when religion can breed unnecessary fear and prejudice through misunderstanding, with my photographs I hope to reveal what it can bring to everyday inner-city life.
The Fotovisura grant would enable to me continue this important exploration into emerging religious practices and social issues arising from the growth of urban multi faith communities in Europe.
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