If you missed the original Amy Winehouse exhibition at the Jewish Museum, well, you’re in luck.
Following an international tour to far-flung Tel Aviv, Vienna and San Francisco, the show, entitled Family Portrait, curated in collaboration with brother Alex and sister-in-law Riva, returns to its Camden home this month. Yay.
You may recall the Winehouse family gave the Jewish Museum access to her personal belongings that celebrate her passion for music, fashion, sudoku, London and her family.
And this time round there’s also an Amy-themed street art trail, with work dotted around NW1 by Bambi, Captain Kris, Mr Cenz, Philth and Amara Por Dios.
The trail will lead to a newly commissioned installation at the Jewish Museum by renowned north London street artist Pegasus, entitled Love is a Losing Game.
A close friend of the Winehouse family, Pegasus first gained recognition for his work Fallen Angel, which honoured Amy shortly after her death.
What we said about the original show back in 2013
“How silently and intently visitors study every backstage pass and scribbled letter. The atmosphere and reverence here is almost as potent as what is actually on display.
So what are we all contemplating? Original outfits (see photo gallery below), the famous ballet pumps, old vinyl, scrawled lists of favourite tracks (Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Carole King), a family tree, a map of “Amy’s London” with flags on key places (including several Camden Town haunts), and plenty of easygoing contextual text and annotations from her brother Alex.
So yes, this is a quiet show, well-judged and not overegged; subtle and un-sensational, with no mention of her struggles with drink and drugs, or Blake Fielder-Civil.
Fair enough, of course: it is trying to show us another side, the ordinary north London Jewish girl, her heritage, a family portrait of a “much-loved sister”.
Read the full review here.
Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait runs 16th March – 24th Sept; the street art trail runs 15th March – 4th June. Jewish Museum, Raymond Burton House, 129 – 131 Albert Street NW1
