Corner Shop Nostalgia

I found this artwork displayed at the Young Foundation in Bethnal Green in East London a while back and it stirred in me a whirlwind of emotions

This piece encapsulates a very happy part of my childhood. The Aleema Store was a corner shop a few doors down from my childhood home on Casson Street, E1. The piece captures the store at its prime, its vibrancy… a magical gem of the past, seeing this artwork was like travelling back in time and standing in front of the store I remember.

Aleema, who the store was named after was a lovely lady of Indian heritage, she knew my family well. Me and my siblings would pop down to her shop regularly to grab essentials during all hours of the day (and night), we’d go knock on her door in the early hours if we ran out of milk and of course for our integral sweet fix (oh to the glory of 5p sweets). Aleema and her husband ran the shop together and lived on the first floor with their two daughters and son, she passed away around 2004 and the once buzzing shop closed its doors. Her son tried running it as a computer shop for a while but that soon closed and has since remained closed.

Seeing this piece got me thinking about the remnants left behind of people and the traces of an era. Now in the ever gentrified East London; where many locals can no longer afford to stay; there lives a sign board that continues to hold the name of Aleema, going unnoticed in the backdrop of changing community.

I was struck by how I was impacted by this. I was overjoyed when I found this, something those around me at the time did not understand. But how could they? It was a strange feeling to see this artwork hanging at the Young Foundation, an organisation that works for the community yet feels very much disconnected from it, somehow benefitting from the misfortunes of BME/ working class communities. I was further disheartened to find no label on the piece, no name, no acknowledgement of the place, the subject or the artist, when I asked no one seemed to know… a further depiction of their relationship with the community… beautifying a wall… a token piece.

I enjoyed reliving the memories. As we become consumed with life, work and the daily grind we often forget how powerful art is in bringing together different parts of our identities… capturing and preserving parts of ourselves.

Below are pictures of how the store now looks, I have also included images of ‘Zara’s Corner’ – which was known as ‘Blue shop’ to the locals, another closed corner shop a few doors to the left of Aleema’s store. Zara’s name also lives on in a sign board, for how long, who knows.