Letters of Refuge

The exhibition was the first in a series of events, which we hope will include taking the exhibits on tour to Folkestone and to Paris, the inclusion in some festivals exploring the value of the humanities in contemporary society, and a further, related project with refugees granted leave-to-remain in the UK.

The exhibition arose from my research on the ancient world, in which I explore the persecution and displacement of minority groups, in particular the earliest Christians, under the Roman empire. Where most research is interested in these historical events from the perspective of the state – what we might call a “top down” perspective – my work tries to excavate the perspective of the individuals who were persecuted – a “bottom up” approach. I’ve been interested in what have thus far been the neglected community aspects of this early Christian suffering – the community betrayals, fractures, and ostracisms that both triggered and characterised ancient persecution, and the emergence of new solidarities that provided solace to those so effected.

Art Refuge [1], my project partner, led by Bobby Lloyd and Miriam Usiskin, is a charity which since 2006 has worked with refugees from different parts of the world. Their pioneering “The Community Table” [2] approach is a pop-up space which offers a moment of creative calm to displaced people in often stressful circumstances. Anyone can sit, and carefully chosen prompts – photographs, poetry, building materials – aim to inspire those who do to produce their own artistic responses, which in turn helps to validate their experiences.

Our collaborative project took the form of two workshops, one in Folkestone and one in Calais, at which extracts from ancient texts by early Christians speaking to their own experiences were used as prompts at the table. This approach employs a methodology in which ancient historical material serves as a space to explore issues of continuing urgency for those most effected by them Since the majority of the ancient texts are letters, we invited the refugees at the table to write their own letters. The exhibition at King’s juxtaposed these ancient and modern letters against the backdrop of ancient and modern maps. We were also privileged to be able to include artistic responses by two contemporary artists, Aida Silvestri and Josie Carter, as well as fifty photographs from Art Refuge’s work, and The Community Table itself, complete with typewriters, so that visitors could produce their own letters in response.

The main goal of the exhibition was to put the voices of those who have experienced displacement and persecution – which have been and are largely ignored, whether because of the passing of time or the rhetoric of politicians – front and centre. In addition, the juxtaposition of ancient and modern means that both appear differently to us. It reminds us that these dusty ancient texts are not simply words on the page, but the living, breathing voices of real people who still merit our attention and empathy. And it insists that the experiences of modern refugees are not the unfortunate result of exceptional circumstances far removed from us, but the latest manifestation of what has long been a universal human experience – one that demands our compassion, whether it occurred in the distant past or the urgent present.

[1] https://www.artrefuge.org.uk/

[2] https://www.artrefuge.org.uk/community-table