Secret Maps and Hidden Histories | The British Library
Community-led films revealing the stories hidden in some of history’s most mysterious maps.
A Fascinating Project with the British Library
In late 2025, we were delighted to be commissioned to produce three case study films and a multi-screen AV installation for the British Library’s major new exhibition, Secret Maps. The exhibition explores levels of power, coercion and secrecy that lie behind maps from the 14th century to the present day. It uncovers the invisible forces that draw and distort the world around us.
Working with community-led groups, we created films that reinterpret this history through lived experience, focusing on how mapping has shaped, divided, and defined identities. Each film responds to different narratives within the exhibition, ensuring the perspectives of diasporic, indigenous, and underrepresented communities are central to how the maps, and the stories behind them, are reimagined.
Creative and Production Process
The creative process began with a series of workshops at the British Library. Community groups were invited to review selected maps, archival material and global collection items. These sessions proved to be deeply informative. Sparking discussions about belonging, displacement, and the ways maps have both documented and distorted cultural histories. The workshops shaped how participants wanted their stories to be represented on screen.
We developed the films collaboratively through a co-production model. Each involving a series of structured workshops in pre-production. Each group took part in initial scoping sessions to define themes and tone, planning workshops to shape scripts and filming details, and feedback sessions to refine the final edit. Filming took place across locations in London and Leicester, depending what was appropriate for the stories being told. The process ensured that the communities’ voices guided both the storytelling and visual direction.
Pushing Back Against Colonial Erasure
The Asia/Pacific exhibit video interrogates how colonial mapping functioned not only as a tool of ‘discovery’ but also as an instrument of erasure. We worked with In*ter*is*land Collective to produce this film. It foregrounds the groups creative and artistic practices as a means of exploring the themes. Interviews (one recorded remotely with a member in Aotearoa/New Zealand) form the basis of the script.
Each member contributed a unique artwork: a woodcut print, a thread-based studio installation, and a flag symbolising the importance of the name Kororāreka over its colonial replacement, Russell.
Long Live the Revolution
The India/Pakistan exhbit video explores the mass displacement, fractured communities, and cultural loss surrounding the 1947 Partition. We worked with members from the UK South Asian Digital Archive, who wrote a poem that formed the film’s narrative.
Filmed in a venue in Leicester, the work features members placing symbolic objects on a cloth (items tied to their identities and family histories) alongside beautiful dance sequences.
Archival maps of Partition and library collection materials are overlaid with the evocative sound of tabla, with some textural sound throughout.
The False Maps of South Africa
The South Africa exhibit video delves into the contrasting narratives. The two maps are from Gauteng Province: a 1963 map that erases Indigenous African place names, and a 1994 map that restores them.
We worked with members of the Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory & Learning to shape the film; exploring the stories important to them. Through interviews filmed in the Nine Elms studio, archival material, and the inclusion of the anti-apartheid song Meadowlands.
The film reflects on the politics of naming, the legacy of apartheid, Indigenous burial practices, and stories of resistance and surveillance.
Displaying Invisible Influences
Off-the-Grid serves as an immersive, multi-screen, audio-visual, installation bringing together voices from all the community films. It interweaves archival visuals, maps, and projections. It creates a shared conversation reflecting on power, surveillance, and the unseen forces that shape our world.
We loved collaborating with all the groups and learned so much from their insights, creativity, and generosity throughout the process. It was particularly special to receive a beautiful woodcut print from Momoe Tasker of the In*ter*is*land Collective, a gift that now hangs proudly in our studio!
Chocolate Films: Human Stories in Cultural Spaces
Our approach to Secret Maps builds on a strong track record of co-produced and community-driven storytelling. We previously created the films for the MI5 exhibition at The National Archives, collaborating closely with curators to reveal hidden narratives of secrecy and intelligence.
Other projects include partnerships with Lambeth Council and a co-produced documentary about young people’s experiences of autism. Where local students shaped every stage of the creative process.
Across these works, our focus remains consistent. Enabling communities to reclaim their stories and reshape the narratives that define them.
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