The Art of Refugee Research: Creative Collaborations in Practice

Book tickets

This event will show three short films by University of York staff relating to refugees and community (Crossing Borders by Zulfiya Hamzaki; Unity and Community by Simona Manni and Finding Your Feet: A Field Guide to Belle Isle by Emilie Flower.

Crossing Borders - Khansaa and her family fled the Syrian war in search of a better life in the United States. As refugees living in Oakland California, they adapt to an unfamiliar culture with the help of a young American mother. Zulfiya Hamzaki's Crossing Borders looks at the migrant story through motherhood and friendship that crosses language and cultural barriers. 16 mins, 2018.

Unity and Community - A short film co-created by Simona Manni with women from the Sudanese community in Bradford. The film is part of a project developed by Bradford UNESCO City of Film bringing a diverse range of communities together through film and conversation. 10 mins, 2018.

Finding Your Feet: A Field Guide to Belle Isle - In May 2015 a group of people from Leeds came together in Belle Isle to attend a participatory video training hosted by The Young Foundation. Together with Emilie Flower, they designed this film named “Finding your Feet”, which, drawing on their strengths as a group, sheds a new light on the process of finding your feet in a new environment and presents Belle Isle with a fresh perspective. c.20 mins, 2015.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the researchers/filmmakers about refugee research and creative methods, facilitated by the co-chairs of the University of York Migration network, Simon Parker and Sara de Jong together with Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani.

The interdisciplinary panel discussion will cover questions of representation, participation and collaboration, including:

• who can speak for whom?
• what are the synergies and tensions between academic and artistic work in the area of refugee rights?
• how do we combine our different and overlapping identities of artists, academics, migrants, refugees, and/or activists?