SICILIAN COMMUNITY IN ENGLAND
PHOTOGRAPHS…
Every Wednesday at St Mary Mother of God church in Enfield, a group of Sicilian pensioners gathers around for a cheap yet copious meal and a few steps on the dining room turned-into-dance-floor.
This would be the main weekly event for those who immigrated to England during the fifties from the poor Sicilian countryside, in search for better opportunities.
People like Giuseppe Leto and Mr. Baio are among those Sicilians who moved to England on a four-year basis contract to work in the steal factories of Hertfordshire.
At the ending of their contracts they soon invested their time and money in the cucumbers nurseries, sector in which the Sicilians are still the undisputed leaders for Herts and the south-east of England.
As usually happens with older generations of immigrants, among the tight Sicilian community one could detect a slight touch of disappointment towards the loss of part their original identity and the difficulties of blending with the new welcoming country’s culture. Words like Càpite, nurseria and coorroom (respectively, cup of tea, green house and fridge), highlight their uncertain cultural status, which seems like floating between two realities, the Sicilian and the English one.
This reportage has been exhibited at:
Proud Gallery Central, July 2004 (Forum collective)
Forty Hall, Enfield, 2003 (Enfield Cultural Re-mapping)
Gun Powder Park, Summer 2003 (Opening Event)