Moving Objects: Stories of Displacement Exhibition

The exhibition Moving Objects: Stories of Displacement, includes a case 'Talking Objects', co-curated by Beverley Butler from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and Institute Honorary researcher, Fatima Al-Nammari, Petra University, Jordan. Items selected by refugees and asylum seekers as well as art works, photographs and poems created by them are included in the exhibition which also features objects from the Institute's Petrie Palestinian Collection, the Jericho excavations and the Cecilia Western Collection.

The symposium (which is being held at IAS Common Ground, from 12-5pm) brings together creatives, academics and researchers to discuss the relationship between heritage, the arts, displacement and wellbeing, as well as the process of co-curating the exhibition which is on display at the UCL Octagon space between 18 February and 1 October 2019.

The Moving Objects exhibition will then be formally launched in the UCL Pearson Building from 6-8pm, and will include a tour of the exhibition, guest speakers and contributions from the exhibition's co-curators over dinks and nibbles.

Moving Objects: Stories of Displacement draws on UCL-based projects working with Refugee Hosts, UCL Migration Research Unit (UCL Geography), Forced Displacement and Cultural Interventions, and the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance in partnership with the Helen Bamber Foundation.

The exhibition and symposium are jointly led by Beverley Butler as well as Helen Chatterjee (UCL Biosciences), Alejandra Carles-Tolra and Jessy Boon Cowler (Helen Bamber Foundation, Photography Group) and Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (UCL Geography). The exhibition is presented by UCL Culture and, as well as the symposium and launch, is funded through the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies Small Grants Scheme, the UCL Grand Challenges Programme, and the Department of Geography.

Thanks are due to Stephen Quirke, Ian Carroll, Andrea Potts, Haeree Shim, Roxane Burke, Stuart Laidlaw and Dorian Fuller.