Launch event Sat 13 Sep 2025, 12 – 2.30pm

A local neighbourhood seen through fresh eyes in a series of short films shot in and around Redbridge by the artist Alan Abrahams.

Alan, who is based in Paris, spent four days walking the streets of Redbridge, capturing the borough’s urban landscape, noticing its architectural gems, hidden alleyways, green spaces and community. He discovered a place which, despite the rapid change of recent years, has a rich cultural and environmental heritage.

Shot in cinematic widescreen and enhanced through cross-processed imagery, Alan’s film series offers a striking, immersive glimpse beneath the surface of the everyday world. Each piece is paired with a bespoke, emotionally resonant soundtrack, composed to complement the visual journey. To deepen the experience, Alan invited local poets and writers to respond to the films and music, capturing their reflections, emotions, and insights. Their spoken word performances were then woven into the soundtracks, creating a layered, evocative fusion of sight, sound, and spoken thought.

This is a sensory tapestry that invites audiences to see and feel in new ways, to see beyond the mundane, where the ordinary and everyday transitions into something that resonates with us on a deeper level.

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Alan Abrahams (aka Portable) is a celebrated live act and music composer whose practice grew out of the ruins of post-apartheid South Africa. He was part of the generation that brought about the freedom of Nelson Mandela and all that followed for his country.

Through his short film narratives, music videos, and sound compositions, Alan pieces together diverse sounds and images from his childhood memories of Cape Town in the 70s, the techno, house and rave scenes in Johannesburg in the 80s, and experiences from his later adopted homes of London, Lisbon, Berlin, and currently Paris.