Exhibition at The Curve captures past, present and future of Slough

The past, present and future of Slough has been captured by an artist from Langley whose work is on show at The Curve.

Sukhpal Grewal, of Middlegreen Road, was inspired to explore the borough’s history after a visit last year to the 900-year-old St Lawrence Church in Upton, Slough’s oldest building.

“It sort of inspired me to start looking a little bit further, a little bit beyond the Slough Trading Estate as a starting point of Slough’s history,” said the 61-year-old.

His work includes acrylic paintings portraying different eras of Slough’s history, starting with the church.

“I really tried to imagine what life then must have been like, how people lived,” said the retired civil servant.

He explores the town’s history as a stop-off point for traders passing through, to and from London, as well as the town’s brick-making industry, which started in the 15th century.

He covers the creation of the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal in the 1800s, the construction of the town’s rail line in 1840 and the Slough Trading Estate, which began to develop in the 1920s, and includes an aerial view of present-day Slough.

Not stopping there, the father-of-two uses a semi-abstract style to show what Slough could look like in the near future and uses digital prints of the town’s social issues and things it should be proud of.

One of the prints depicts food banks, poverty and closing businesses in the present day while another shows 20th century immigrants arriving from all over the world looking for work and a better life.

Another print shows an extract of John Betjeman’s poem ‘Slough’ with the famous line ‘come friendly bombs and fall on Slough’, accompanied by a statement from job website Glassdoor declaring Slough the best place to work in the UK.

“Maybe John had a view of development in his time. He thought the idyllic countryside was being changed.

“You can look at it in one way and say it’s ugly but you can look at it as opportunities in the future.”

A print of the under-construction Future Works building in Wellington Street with a sign saying ‘Slough Under Construction’ is included as a celebration of the town’s growth.

“I’ve lived here about 14 years now and I feel Slough gets a bad press and is the butt of jokes,” said Sukhpal.

“Even as a resident I feel I don’t want to say to people I live in Slough.

“In reality there’s nothing wrong with Slough. It will become better and better, we just need to challenge our own views of it.”

The Slough Project will be on show at The Curve in William Street until the end of January.