Victoria’s Story

If primary school teacher Victoria Loughran hadn’t taken steps to preserve the photographs of her uncle Tex after his passing in 1994, his work might never have survived to become the remarkable archive we know today.

Victoria Loughran is the niece of British photographer Bandele “Tex” Ajetunmobi — a quiet, unassuming, self-taught visual artist who spent decades documenting the often-interwoven lives of immigrant communities and neighbourhoods in East London.

At the age of seventy-three, after a night playing cards, Uncle Tex — as he was affectionately known — departed this life. When Victoria began calling people from his address book to share the news, she quickly realised how widely loved he was.

I’d say ‘Bandele Ajetunmobi’, and people wouldn’t know who I meant. Then I’d say ‘Tex,’ and they’d go, ‘Oh my goodness… Uncle Tex!

Victoria Loughran

She recalls.

The entirety of Tex’s life’s work was hidden in his East London flat. He had thousands of images spanning from the 1940s through to the early 1980s, and sorting through them was no easy task. The relationship between Victoria’s mother and Tex hadn’t always been straightforward, and much of the responsibility for clearing his home had been left to others.

When Victoria and her husband, Connor, arrived at the flat to assist, they were met with a devastating sight: Tex’s photographs and negatives were being thrown away.

They were in the skip,

Victoria Loughran

Victoria remembers.

I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but you can’t throw away a photograph. That’s somebody’s life.

Victoria Loughran

The couple quickly bundled up what they could into plastic carrier bags, took them home, and stored them in a suitcase for years — waiting for the right moment for them to be rediscovered.

First Look

When Victoria finally began going through the collection, she was struck not by the familiar faces in the images, but by the lives and moments Tex had managed to capture. With each frame, a fragment of the ever-changing East End remained.

Tex had a gift for elevating the ordinary through his lens.

He made Nottingham look like New York,

Victoria Loughran

said Loughran

He worked with whatever camera he had to hand, though he favoured twin-lens models, and he developed his own prints at home. As a child, Victoria would see the red light glowing in his makeshift darkroom — the signal that no one could enter.

Finding a Home for the Archive

Determined to protect Tex’s work, Victoria began reaching out to archives and museums to see if anyone might take them. The initial responses were discouraging. Most said they had never seen anything quite like it, and some even suggested that she take on the responsibility of the collection
herself.

So, Victoria and Connor began the painstaking process of cataloguing and printing the images. Contact sheets revealed the breadth of Tex’s vision, and an enlarger bought on Brick Lane allowed them to bring the pictures to life in full size.

Today, a selection of his work is preserved by Autograph ABP in Hackney, where visitors can explore the faces, fashions, and street life of an almost-forgotten era. Tex’s photographs, once moments from the streets of Whitechapel, Cannon Street Road, and Brick Lane, are now recognised as a visual time capsule. They capture a London where cultures converged on the pavement, where communities dressed their best for weddings, and where the everyday was worthy of a frame.

Find out more about the story of 'Uncle Tex' by reading 'Victoria's Story' or tuning into the season 3 of our podcast - The Hackney and Newham History Social Club - Here!