David Shrigley features in 'My name is not Refugee'
'My name is not Refugee' is a group exhibition at Firstsite, Colchester which brings together works chosen by refugees and asylum seekers living in the local area. The exhibition explores what it means to find connections in a new place and considers questions about our purpose, choices and morality as human beings.
Over the past year a group of refugees and asylum seekers have worked together with Firstsite staff and voluntary organisation Refugee Action Colchester to create an exhibition which includes a number of works from the Arts Council Collection, UK. The works on view invite visitors to explore ideas and stories that are meaningful to those who selected them. The exhibition includes a wide range of media including traditional landscape paintings, video, sculpture, ceramics and photography, alongside scents that are familiar in the regions from which the group have travelled. Included in the presentation is David Shrigley's 'The Bell', 2007, on loan from the Arts Council Collection.
‘My name is not Refugee’ is the fourth exhibition by Firstsite as part of the Arts Council National Partners Programme, which will continue into 2022. The exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Curry, Münevver Gülsen Ülker, Samia, Diego Robirosa and Mr and Mrs Al-Chahin, working together with many more clients of and volunteers from Refugee Action Colchester. Refugee Action Colchester is a voluntary organisation working with refugees, asylum seekers and people with no access to public funds. Find out more by visiting www.refugeeactioncolchester.org.uk
Artists featured in this exhibition include: Jananne Al-Ani, Adrian Berg, Zarina Bhimji, Christine Borland, Mark Boulos, Lisa Cheung, David Connearn, Diana Cumming, Adam Dade, Jimmie Durham, Leila Faithfull, Elsie Few, Buckminster Fuller, Anya Gallaccio, Charles Ginner, Duncan Grant, Lucy Gunning, Graham Gussin, Allan Gwynne-Jones, Sonia Hanney, Mona Hatoum, Emma Kay, John Kippin, Richard Long, Rachel Lowe, Iain MacMillan, Mike Marshall, David Nash, Mariele Neudecker, Winifred Nicholson, Jacques Nimki, Hirsch Perlman, Ingrid Pollard, Kathy Prendergast, Margaret Fisher Prout, David Robbiliard, Claude Rogers, Shimabuku, David Shrigley , Imogen Stidworthy, Rowland Suddaby, Mark Titchner, Gee Vaucher, Hubert Wellington, Rachel Whiteread, Chris Wilson and Richard Woods. The calligraphy throughout the exhibition is by İsmail Üzümlü.
