THE ICA PROJECT

For over thirty years, the Ipswich Caribbean Association (ICA) building on Woodbridge Road was an important social and cultural hub for the town. Variously known as the Caribbean Centre or the Caribbean Club to its users, it functioned as a space for music, education, martial arts, food and conversation until its closure in 2010. It was  demolished in 2012.

This exhibition of specially commissioned portraits by John Ferguson captures the faces and stories of those for whom the Ipswich Caribbean Centre meant something special. Shown alongside John’s photographs are a series of rarely seen archival materials including posters, photographs and home videos that document the life and times of the building. The exhibition also includes a series of newly collected oral histories that uncover and explore the significant cultural and social impact of the ICA; its history, its programmes, and its importance to the many people and groups which used its services and facilities. 

The ICA Memories exhibition is not a definitive or final account of the ICA or the communities that used it, but we hope that in gathering and preserving memories of the past, we can recognise the ongoing impact of its absence.