An exhibition celebrating two decades of a unique art and art therapy charity dedicated to serving people seeking refuge
24X24 DUNKERQUE © ArtRefuge
Nexe week (opening May 13th) in London, images documenting Art Refuge’s work with people displaced and seeking refuge – from reception centres in Nepal and camps, roadside locations and day centres in Calais and Dunkirk, to asylum centres and drop-in spaces in the UK – will be shown alongside recent photographs taken by people seeking refuge in the exhibition ‘20 Years of Art Refuge‘. A UK registered charity since May 2006, Art Refuge uses art and art therapy to provide vital mental health and psychosocial wellbeing support to people displaced due to conflict, persecution, poverty and climate emergency, in the UK and internationally. Over the last two decades, Art Refuge has directly reached more than 30,000 people. Celebrating the charity’s twentieth anniversary, the exhibition in Hackney will feature photographs, maps, films, images, and objects from across Art Refuge’s work.
While debate and often hostile rhetoric over those seeking asylum appear in the media day after day, these images reveal something of the real human individuals behind the headlines. Materials including plasticine, miniature clay bricks, manual typewriters and found photographs are used to communicate individuals’ experiences, journeys and hopes for the future. These images serve as a poignant reminder of the common humanity that binds us all and the creative instinct shared by people everywhere, as well as the revitalising potential of art in even the hardest of circumstances.
Images of works created by refugees, including boats with miniature people on board, buildings filled with a longing for home, shelter or a safe future, and carefully crafted animals, will be shown alongside works from two recent Art Refuge projects, ‘24X24 DUNKERQUE‘ and ‘MADE TOGETHER’ for which social engagement and curation were led by artist Aida Silvestri.
24X24 DUNKERQUE © ArtRefuge
24X24 DUNKERQUE © ArtRefuge
First exhibited in northern France, ‘24X24 DUNKERQUE‘ is a collection of photographs taken across 24 hours in June 2025 in and around the city of Dunkirk. Using the same 24 photo prompts which were printed in multiple languages, 30 single-use analogue cameras were handed to people of all ages seeking refuge, Art Refuge’s colleagues in the Médecins Du Monde mobile clinic team, and art students and staff from the art school ESÄ Dunkerque. This project and exhibition mark Art Refuge’s 10 year collaboration with Médecins Du Monde in northern France.
24X24 DUNKERQUE © ArtRefuge
‘MADE TOGETHER’ shows work resulting from a 2026 photography project with residents and staff at a Home Office accommodation setting and in the surrounding area, creating layered portraits which both explore and conceal identities. This work was funded by a Mental Health Support for Asylum Seekers grant (MHSAS), a Hackney Council MATCH health equity project.
Made Together © ArtRefuge
People seeking refuge have often experienced multiple challenges: being forced to leave their home; lengthy and difficult journeys; and the hostile environment that greets them on both sides of the English Channel. Art Refuge has developed a unique arts-based psychosocial approach in the form of The Community Table; a space where everyone is welcome, where art materials are provided as a way to gently rebuild a sense of grounding in community with others, and where the power of creativity allows for both hoping and coping. During the exhibition, visitors will be invited to join pop-up iterations of The Community Table in the gallery space, where they can try out the materials and experience for themselves this gently transformational creative process.
Art Refuge CEO Bobby Lloyd says:
“For two decades, Art Refuge has been serving people seeking refuge from conflict, persecution, poverty and climate emergency in locations as diverse as Nepal, India, France and the UK, and recently through psychosocial training and support in Ukraine, Lithuania and South Sudan. We provide opportunities for those who need it to be supported by art and art therapy, while our work has sadly only become more vital as the decades have gone by. This exhibition is a testament to the enduring power of creativity, even in the most turbulent of times, as evidenced by the artworks and images created by those we have the privilege to work with.”
20 Years of Art Refuge 2006-2026, 13th May -16th May, 12-6PM, Yorkton Workshops Hackney, Free entry
THE COMMUNITY TABLE WORKSHOP, Thursday 14th May – Saturday 16th May, 2PM-4PM, Yorkton Workshops. Since 2015, Art Refuge’s core programmes have taken place on either side of the English Channel in southern England and northern France, through which the charity has developed its research-based model of practice, The Community Table, which is gaining widespread interest. Art Refuge would be delighted for you to join them at The Community Table set up in the gallery, for opportunities to try out materials and media with members of the charity’s team of art therapists and artists, and experience one of the charity’s key art therapy practices. Learn more at artrefuge.org.uk/post/20-years-of-art-refuge
The Community Table, Le Cedre Paris 2023, copyright Art Refuge
THE COMMUNITY TABLE SEMINAR, Thursday 14th May 6PM-8:30PM, Yorkton Workshops. Everyone is welcome at the public seminar on 14 May, which will introduce The Community Table model of practice. It will begin with Dr Miriam Usiskin leading a presentation on the thinking that lies behind this Art Refuge research-based model.??This seminar will be of particular interest to artists, arts practitioners, arts therapists, humanitarian workers, community and museum educators, and people who work in the field of mental health and psychosocial support. For more information and to book, please visit eventbrite.co.uk/the-community-table-seminar-tickets
Founded in 2006, Art Refuge is a UK registered charity that uses art and art therapy to support the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of people displaced due to conflict, persecution, poverty and climate emergency, in the UK and internationally. As a mobile charity without a physical base, Art Refuge goes to where people are located. Art Refuge’s ongoing programmes take place in the UK and France and the charity is involved in shorter-term projects, exhibitions and research in other settings. Art Refuge delivers tailor-made arts-based training, crisis support and skills-sharing workshops in the UK, Europe, internationally and online. artrefuge.org.uk
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