Art exhibition at the Solent Showcase Gallery: NARRATIVES OF DISPLACEMENT

The art was created in collaboration with University of Birmingham academic Dr Yafa Shanneik and internationally-renowned artist Dr Rachel Gadsden, who was assisted by Palestinian artist Amna Ali Hussein. The exhibition is part of Shanneik’s research project, funded by the British Academy and Council for British Research in the Levant.

In a series of art workshops with the refugee women and families in 2018, Gadsden used the ‘body mapping’ technique, an artistic tool for creating life-sized images that traces the contours of the individual’s body. Through the workshops the women were able to counter gender-based narratives of fragility and vulnerability and develop narratives of strength, courage and empowerment.

DISPLACED SERIES:
Exploring displacement, identity and social perception

In an explorative season spanning six months, Solent Showcase Gallery presents two exhibitions examining different experiences of displacement and its impact on identity, belonging and social perception.

The first exhibition, ‘Narratives of Displacement’ (24th January – 21st March 2020) explores the use of art as a form to help refugee women tell their stories. The pieces in the exhibition were created by Iraqi and Syrian women who have found refuge in Germany, the UK and Jordan.

The second, ‘Displaced: Salon of Disability’ (10th April – 13th June 2020), is an exciting transformation of the gallery with disabled artist-in-residence Rachel Gadsden, considering displacement from the perspective of disability.

Solent Showcase Gallery, 157 -187 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7NN