A Gift to Birmingham

Photographer Vanley Burke is in conversation with Selbin Kabote, a member and ambassador of Migrant Voice, to launch A Gift to Birmingham at Saathi House. The exhibition is open 15 – 24 July and gives local residents an opportunity to see Burke’s photographic portraits; 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. The schools’ packs will be available to download for free from Ikon’s website.

A Gift to Birmingham was previously shown at Ikon Gallery (23 March – 03 April 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.

This event is part of The Migrant Festival 2022 and Ikon’s Arrivals programme for Summer 2022, concerned with the international movement of people and ideas and organised to coincide with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.