Wandsworth residents have chosen objects from a collection which represents ‘hope’ to them using stories and items from the borough’s past.

Exhibition HOPE at Battersea Arts Centre, in Theatre Street, is a collaborative by people in the community using items from the Wandsworth Collection.

These vary from a brightly coloured traditional Indian dance costume, an embroidered map dating back to 1789 which shows the voyages of Captain Cook, and photos of Winifred Atwell who was the first black artist to sell a million records in the 1950s as a pianist.

Battersea Arts Centre collections manager Lucy Parker said: “We’ve got a wonderful baby bath that’s going to be on display which was actually donated by a man who was bathed in it as a baby in the 1940s during the Blitz.

“There’s this kind of amazing idea of life going on amidst difficult circumstances, and I think that is something really which powerfully comes through. As well as other ideas about creativity, inspiring hope, and sharing experiences.

“Simple things, whether it be dressing up, sharing a cup of coffee with a friend, so I think that there’s lots of reasons for us to be thinking about this scene right now.

“Wandsworth is such a large borough and there are so many experience that people have had living here. We want to begin to think about how to explore that through our work, and thinking of ways in the future that we can collaborate with different people across the borough to think about hope.”

Exhibition HOPE was designed in collaboration with artist Sheila Ghelani and it is the first time objects from the Wandsworth Collection, of which Battersea Arts Centre became a custodian of in 2016 with the council, have been displayed in the facility.

The exhibition opens on February 6 until March 13.