Ikon tours A Gift to Birmingham by Vanley Burke to Handsworth Library. The exhibition features seventeen portraits of members of Migrant Voice, a migrant-led national organisation with a hub in Birmingham. Each image tells a story of migration, either recent or long past, with subjects accompanied or alone. Displayed together, the photographs present a portrait of Birmingham as a superdiverse city, with residents from many parts of the world.
The exhibition is accompanied by schools’ packs (Key Stages, 1, 2 and 3) for teachers and students to openly discuss sensitive issues and directly address conflict. Designed by artist educator Haseebah Ali, they include critical questions – on subjects of race, language, culture and religion – and creative exercises, allowing learners to express their identities. Free copies of the schools’ packs are available at the library and to download from Ikon’s website.
A Gift to Birmingham was previously shown at Ikon Gallery (23 March – 03 April 2022), Brushstrokes (20 – 24 June 2022) and Saathi House (15 – 24 July 2022). It was commissioned as part of the ‘Non-formal Intercommunal Education in Birmingham (NICE-B)’ project, led by Dr Reza Gholami, Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education, University of Birmingham.
EXHIBITION LAUNCH
Friday 16 December 2022, 2-4pm
Handsworth Library, Soho Road, Handsworth, Birmingham B21 9DP
Free
Join Migrant Voice to celebrate the launch of A Gift to Birmingham on the occasion of International Migrants Day at Handsworth Library.