Refugee Week Events at The Open University

Open University students, staff and external guests are invited to three events being held during the course of Refugee Week 2022. Each event will run during lunchtime (12:30 - 13:30), so join us while you enjoy your lunch, and discover some of the projects that have been taking place over the past year.

This series of events are part of our Open University work towards becoming a University of Sanctuary, and ensuring that we create a culture of welcome and support for students and staff affected by forced displacement and migration.

All three events are free, and we encourage you to come along to all of them.

We look forward to seeing you there!

No Friends but the Mountains

Tuesday 21st June, 12:30-13:30

To kick off Refugee Week, we will first be facilitating a showing of this wonderful short film, composed of Kurdish voices and Welsh animation, made in Swansea in 2021-22 by Shahsavar, Lucy and Tom. The film was made with support from the Arts Council of Wales, and in collaboration with the Open University's Covid Chronicles from the Margins project. It grew out of our multilingual children's stories and animations, which you can view on the Hafan Books website.

Shahsavar Rahmani is a professional interpreter in Swansea, originally from Kurdish Iran. Shahsavar interviewed dozens of refugees from Kurdish Iran and neighbouring countries for the Covid Chronicles project. He narrates the film, which presents five interviewees and their stories of persecution, flight, resistance, and hope. Interviews are in Kurdish (Sorani), with English subtitles. Poems by Sherko Bekas and sayings in Farsi and Kurdish frame the film.

Lucy Donald is a professional artist in Burry Port, South Wales. She created striking images and stop-motion animations inspired by interviewees: the title proverb, Ebrahim's idea that a refugee is like a transplanted tree, the traumatic channel crossings. The images accompany the stories, rather than illustrating them, adding emotive layers.

Tom Cheesman is a retired academic, trustee with Swansea Asylum Seekers Support, editor of Hafan Books. He secured a small grant for this project from Arts Council of Wales, worked closely with Shah on subtitling and audio editing, and used Audacity and Movavi to assemble the film.

Identity Over Time

Wednesday 22nd June, 12:30 - 13:30

The second session will present a digital photographic exhibition of works by amateur and professional Swansea photographers. It will explore how, through a series of photography workshops organised by the Open University’s Covid Chronicles from the Margins project and the Iberian Latin American Association during the pandemic, Spanish speakers from Swansea came together to explore their pasts, presents and hopes for the future in visual genres. The group of photographers consisted of exiles from Chile in the 1970s through to today’s refugees from Venezuela and El Salvador in collaboration with Spanish speaking Swansea locals.

The workshops were led by the renowned photographer Humberto Gatica Leyton, Andrea Ibarra Abreu, a visual artist and undergraduate at Trinity St David University, Charly Ibarra Abreu, a digital artist and media studies student at Swansea University and Carlos Ibarra Rivadeneira, educationalist and refugee support worker. They will lead the session alongside Patricia Rodríguez-Martínez Jones who leads the Iberian and Latin American Association in Wales (ILA)

Blood and Gold - A Journey

Thursday 23rd June, 12:30 – 13:30

In her award winning show Blood and Gold, which had its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, Mara Menzies explores migration journeys, weaving tragedy, loss and trauma in a rich tapestry which tells the story of colonialism, migration and oppression but also of humanity, love and healing.

Mara Menzies is an award winning performance storyteller whose dynamic, colourful style brings this ancient artform to life, drawing on her rich, dual Kenyan / Scottish cultural heritage, to create worlds that explore contemporary issues though legend, myth and fantasy. She has been invited to share stories in 27 countries with her latest production, ‘Blood and Gold’ exploring the legacy of colonialism and slavery through myth, legend and fantasy. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019 as part of the Made in Scotland showcase and was nominated for the CATS award 2020 and was one of 5 shows nominated for the Filipa Braganca award for best emerging solo female performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019, receiving rave reviews from top theatre critics.