The Pearl Street Gurdwara:

 

"Histories come and go, people come and go, situations change but somewhere down there is throbbing the culture to which we all belong. It provides a kind of ground for our identities, something to which we can return, something fixed, something stabilized, around which we can organise our identities and our sense of belongingness. And there is a sense that modern nations and peoples cannot survive for long and succeed without the capacity to touch ground, as it were, in the name of their cultural identities."

Stuart Hall, 1995

 

The committee for Pearl Street Gurdwara was established in 1976 by a group of international graduates from Cardiff University. The group made contacts within Cardiff’s local Sikh community and raised funds for a space. In 1977 they bought the Ebenezer Baptist Church and held their first service there in April of that year.

 

The Gurdwara provides a hub for Cardiff’s Sikh community, encouraging and celebrating Punjabi culture and language.  There is a Punjabi school lead by local volunteers and a Langar, a free meal for all, cooked and served onsite every Sunday. 

 

These are provided as acts of Seva: “selfless service that is performed without any expectation of reward for performing it”. Through these acts, Sikhs become closer to Waheguru (God). 

 

This work explores how the Pearl Street Gurdwara acts as both a cultural and religious space, an institution of culture, language and education which simultaneously allows people to access divine power, internal harmony, and unimaginable beauty.