Her book collection included Hunter S Thompson's Kingdom of
Fear, 30 years of collected letters between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson
and a Big Book of Quick Crosswords, while her CD case veered from the Velvet
Underground to the Drifters to Teena Marie.
They all belonged to – or were purloined by – Amy Winehouse
and they go on public display at London's Jewish Museum from Wednesday
alongside clothes, shoes, photographs, even fridge magnets which all belonged
to a singer who died this month two years ago, aged 27.
Many visitors will find it moving. "And it carries on
being moving," said the museum's chief executive, Abigail Morris.
"Every time I go around there is something else that catches me. It is a
really honest exhibition and you get a sense of the real person – as well as
being a big, famous icon she was from a very strong, loving family and that
really comes across."
The family has obviously played a big part in the show and
part of its character is down to the touching and honest captions written by
her brother Alex.
"They really help to bring the exhibition
together," said the curator Elizabeth Selby. "You get a sense of a
very strong brother-and-sister relationship that's very typical – it is very
affectionate but also perhaps they sometimes didn't get on."
A lot of the captions make reference to how Amy would sneak
other family members' CDs or books that she liked into her collection. In one
display the caption talks about the Snoopy book which Amy stole from Alex when
they were children and how he now carries it with him. Another talks about her
"most treasured guitar" which "is possibly the worst instrument
ever made".
The show came about after the family approached the museum
with an offer of a dress. From there, the idea of an exhibition emerged,
happily and organically, said Morris. "Part of it was them learning to
trust us. They have obviously had some quite bruising encounters."
The show aims to look beyond the tragedy as well as the
"out of control" and "boozing" headlines she attracted
before her death. "We wanted to show Amy in a slightly different light to
how she has been perceived in the media," said Selby.
There are many unseen family and school photographs, many in
a suitcase that Amy insisted her father Mitch come to look through a couple of
days before her death – the last time he saw her.
Others include a class photograph from Osidge primary,
Southgate, where one girl in the middle just leaps out and another shows her
wearing her Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade uniform. Her Jewishness was
important to her. "Like a lot of Jews, she felt very strongly and strongly
identified with being Jewish," said Morris. "But that didn't mean
that she kept to every law or went to synagogue all the time."
Alex Winehouse, who recently told the Observer of his belief
that his sister's battle with bulimia contributed to her death by weakening
her, now works with his father for the Amy Winehouse Foundation which educates
on the perils of drink and drug misuse.
He said in a statement that Amy was "incredibly proud
of her Jewish-London roots". He added: "We weren't religious, but we
were traditional. I hope, in this most fitting of places, that the world gets
to see this other side not just to Amy, but to our typical Jewish family."
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