Mahtab Hussain in conversation with Dr Frank Uekötter

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Artist Mahtab Hussain and Dr Frank Uekötter, Reader in Environmental Humanities, University of Birmingham, discuss the impact of dam construction on communities and landscapes, including the Mangla Dam in Kashmir, Pakistan in the 1960s. This event also includes a special viewing of Mitti Ka Ghar – Clay House.

About Black Country Voyages
Black Country Voyages (2014–2017) is an art programme for local people, involving members of the Ikon Youth Programme (IYP). It takes place on board a canal boat, lent by Sandwell Council.

Mahtab Hussain, lead artist for Black Country Voyages 2016, has converted the boat into The Auspicious Journey, a story of mass displacement in Kashmir, Pakistan in the 1960s that led to the establishment of new communities in the Black Country. The construction of the Mangla Dam, across the Jhelum River, between 1961 and 1967, resulted in over 280 villages and towns of Mirpur and Dadyal being submerged and over 110,000 people being displaced. Some of those affected were given work permits for Britain by the Government of Pakistan, with many making their way to find work in the Midlands or the North West. The canal system was the bloodline of industry for the Black Country and it was here many migrants came to find work.

Working with clay and traditional photography, Hussain is making work about the people affected by the dam construction. During the autumn he hosts creative workshops for visitors to interact with Black Country Voyages. For more information call Ikon on 0121 248 0708.