Kilburn, situated in North-West London, is a patch of land spanning three boroughs, Camden, Brent and Westminster. Kilburn has many different identities and voices. Kilburn is a welcoming neighbourhood that has evolved into a multicultural realm, where diverse identities intersect amidst a backdrop of constant change.  

The use of the word Museum is a provocation that challenges traditional notions of institutionalised spaces. The addition of Lab suggests that museums can be participated self-determined entities that prioritize what is valuable and meaningful to their respective communities.

By documenting and celebrating the diverse narratives that shape our community, the Kilburn Museum Lab seeks to engage the community actively, fostering understanding and appreciation for our cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity, and sharing the myriads of hidden stories that contribute to shaping our collective sense of place.

The Kilburn Museum is a cultural space with a strong community focus, dedicated to positively influencing Kilburn’s social fabric. It serves as an agent for change to empower collective ownership of cultural heritage and shape future outcomes.

The museum is a work in progress, devoid of a fixed plan or plot, evolving with the collective vision of its community.


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partners & friends
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press
︎︎︎ SHAPE Involve and Engage: unearthing the people’s history of Kilburn
 ︎︎︎Interior Architecture students explore Kilburn’s hidden stories in latest phase of innovative community and Middlesex University project


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Electronic Sheep -
Helen Delany and Brenda Aherne
with Bharain Mac An Bhreithiún

The Kilburn Tapestries




The Kilburn Tapestries celebrates and depicts the lives both past and present of the Irish community in the borough of Brent and in particular the Kilburn area.




Delany and Aherne were awarded a Brent 2020 culture fund grant to create the piece.

This work was created, hand-drawn and knit by the artists. The research and creation of this piece took a full year to collect and gather unique artefacts and stories.

Through the tapestry, they tell the tales of a close-knit community, reiterating the strong bond that Irish people have with Kilburn. The focus of the tapestry is on the Irish creative community in particular and its influence on the music and arts scene in London. It celebrates the opportunities that London presented to so many young Irish people whilst also recognising how difficult that move was for some. There are many stories and elements to the piece including the artists’ own experience of being part of the Irish community living in Kilburn. In the eighties, Dubliners Delany and Aherne spent all their teenage summers in London. Delany moved to London permanently in 1992 and currently lives off the Kilburn High Road.

All characters, places and objects are hand drawn from Delany and Aherne’s observations, personal photos and/or photos and heirlooms loaned to them by people from the Brent community. The tapestry features important Irish musicians. References were taken from the stories of legendary music promoter Vince Power. The research generated through a series of interviews with Power resulted in a montage of scenes set on Kilburn High Road on any Saturday night from 1980 to 2020. The street scene is a collage of significant buildings in the Brent area, past and present and features a host of Irish cultural figures who played at or frequented the Mean Fiddler, Power’s well known music venue. These include Rory Gallagher, Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O’Connor and Phil Lynott. The tapestry also celebrates the work of award-winning Irish playwright Enda Walsh who lives in Kilburn. For the tapestry’s typographic panel Walsh selected relevant excerpts of his work on the themes of the Irish in London from two of his plays The Walworth Farce and Ballyturk.

Irish dancer Triona Newman Lennox generously loaned pictures of her childhood Irish dancing costumes which inspired the decorative border.



2022, Knitted Tapestry,
325cm X 135cm.

© Electronic Sheep


Le hÉireannaigh uile Londain is part of a triptych called Kilburn Stoop Party. The theme is a continuation of the immigration narrative that the artists introduced while creating The Kilburn Tapestries. This typographic piece features a short story written by Bharain Mac An Bhreithiún created for this series. Translated into Irish by Róisín Ní Chéileachair. Le hÉireannaigh uile Londain, 2023 Screen Print,80cm x 80cm.
© 2345—45/42 Lipsum