Rastafari memories Jamaican religion's UK home revived

The headquarters of the Rastafarian faith in Britain is being brought back to life with an exhibition its organiser hopes will help to dispel myths about the religion, which continues to be a big influence in popular culture from music and food to fashion.

- Lanre Bakare

Echoes Within These Walls will tell the story of the temple at St Agnes Place in south London, which was founded in 1972 after Rastafarians took control of the building.

The building became the focal point for a religion that was imported from Jamaica after it emerged in the 1930s. By the late 20th century, the faith had become a worldwide phenomenon, spread by Bob Marley, who stayed at St Agnes Place in the 1970s.

Dr Aleema Gray, whose House of Dread arts organisation is hosting the pop-up exhibition at the Brixton House cultural centre, hopes the event - which features a film about the building - will add nuance to a story that often begins and ends with Marley.

Gray said: "It was about being self-sustainable: there was the mechanic, there was the plumber. But then there's the organisational elements of it: St Agnes Place became the HQ of the Ethiopian World Federation, so there's this black futuristic idea of looking towards Africa."