| An exhibition about the life of Amy Winehouse has opened in London, featuring clothes, records and dozens of photographs belonging to the star.
Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait runs until September at the Jewish Museum in Camden Town, less than a mile away from where she died aged 27. Put together with the help of her brother Alex, the exhibits include fridge magnets, childhood books and her audition essay to the Sylvia Young stage school. A suitcase of family photographs she was looking through in the days before she died in her Camden Town home in 2011 also feature at the show. Many of the items have captions written by Alex. He said: "This is a snapshot of a girl who was, to her deepest core, simply a little Jewish kid from north London with a big talent who, more than anything, just wanted to be true to her heritage."
The exhibition includes photographs of her grandmother who influenced her sense of style and exhibits that show the family's "Jewish-London roots". It traces those roots back to the singer's great-great-grandparents who left Belarus in the 19th century and came to London by accident, having meant to go to the United States. The museum's chief executive, Abigail Morris, said the idea for the exhibition came about after the family offered one of her dresses for its permanent display. "They just came with a dress and thought this would be a lovely place for it and it grew organically from that," she said. Ms Morris said she hoped it would show another side to the troubled Back To Black singer who fought a public battle with drink and drugs before her early death.
"Everyone thinks they know who Amy Winehouse is, and they've seen the pictures, but actually she is somebody's little sister. "I think this exhibition is saying this is the story of somebody who was very loved as opposed to someone who was very famous." |
The dress Amy Winehouse wore at Glastonbury in 2008 
The exhibition is being held at the Jewish Museum 
A Grammy awarded to Winehouse posthumously in 2012 
Clothes and musical instruments belonging to Winehouse feature in the show 
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