This website includes extra digital content for the Seeking Asylum in St Albans exhibition which could not be added to the physical exhibition due to space limitations. Featuring traditional and new media, this project also aims to engage with a wider audience to cast light on the crisis and challenges that millions of people around the world face every year, every minute, when they are forced to begin anew in a foreign country – in a strange land.
(Everybody)Why are these songs meaningful to you?
چرا این آهنگ ها برای شما معنی دار هستند؟
Чому ці пісні важливі для вас?
‘We all like music and dancing to the rhythm of it.
Music brings us a comforting and nostalgic sense of connection with our home, culture and loved ones when we are far from home.’
Joël (Democratic Republic of the Congo) - My Asylum Interview
Joël came to one of the first art workshops at the Cathedral. He looked sad and defeated but did not speak much. He took a pen and started drawing his self-portrait based on a picture he used on his asylum application.
After the exhibition, he was interviewed by Matt Adams from the St Albans Times. Regarding this picture Joe said:
‘Drawing helps me to put out what I have inside of me. I wanted to draw something that expressed what I was feeling. I was not feeling well at that time so I thought “why not show what I look like now?”’
Joël had to leave his country due to his involvement with a political movement which worked to raise awareness of state corruption. When police started searching for him and threatened his family, he jumped on a plane to the UK to save his and his family’s lives. He has been living at the Noke Hotel since 2022.
Darab (Iran) Peace, Tranquillity and Love
‘I am from Shiraz. People speak both Farsi and Turkish there. I have a wife and daughters in Iran and I seek safety for them. I love both Iranian and Turkish music. Listen to some of my favourite songs:’
Darab (Iran) Woman, Life, Freedom
‘This picture is about life and freedom, for Mahsa and all the women of Iran and the world.’
On 16 September 2022, Mahsa Amini – a young woman from Tehran – was arrested and brutally murdered by the Guidance Patrol for allegedly wearing the hijab ‘incorrectly’, despite the Iranian authorities (i.e. the FARAJ) deny it. Women are not safe in Iran since the Iranian Revolution and the beginning of Khomeini’s dictatorship in 1979, who introduced mandatory dress code for all women. In the last two decades, women have started to be more liberal about hijab rules and this has led the morality police to use violence to ‘re-educate’ them.
Info credits: Rana Rahimpour, ‘Fury in Iran as young woman dies following morality police arrest’, BBC Persian, 16 September 2022
Ayoub (Iran) Freedom of Iran
‘I am also from Shiraz and my wife and daughter are there. My daughter goes to school but it is not safe. She likes playing the piano and singing in Turkish. I sing in Turkish as well. I really miss my wife and daughter: they are as beautiful as the women in this music video:’
Ebrahim (Iran) Fiammetta
Hamid (Iran) Simple Painting
‘I drum with African music, which has been part of my life since childhood. In my home town of Abadan (آبادان ) there is a strong African influence, so it makes me feel connected with home. In this video, I play drums with my family in Germany.’
Mehdi (Iran) The Flag of Iran
‘The people and culture of Iran are good despite what our government wants to show the world. We do not agree with the current government. We are not like it.’
Mehdi has also chosen two photographs (above)
The Scholars Pavilion, United Nations, Vienna
Pic © Yamaha5
‘This monument stays at the entrance of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna. I wanted to display it as part of the exhibition as it represents the four greatest scientists of Iran. Abu Ali Sina, Zakaria Razi, Abu Rihan Boruri and Omar Khayyam lived more than a thousand years ago and made some important discoveries which are still relevant and used today.’
Bani Adam rug, United Nations, NY
Pic © Marjohn Sheikhi
‘The fifth greatest Iranian scholar is the poet Saadi Shīrāzī who wrote Bani Adam. This poem is displayed at the United Nations headquarters in New York. This poem, along with the monument, are symbols of the brilliant and unique culture of my people which is sometimes forgotten.’
Saadi ShīrāzīBani Adam (Children of Adam)
بنیآدم اعضای یک دیگرند
که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرندچو عضوى بهدرد آورَد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرارتو کز محنت دیگران بیغمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمیbanī ādam aʿzāy-e yek digarand
keh dar āfarīniesh zeh yek goharand
cho ʿozvī beh dard āwarad roozgār
degar ʿozvhā rā namānad qarār
to k'az meḥnat-e dīgarān bīghamī
nashāyad keh nāmat nahand ādamī
Human Beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is inflected with pain
Other members uneasy will remain
If you have no sympathy for human pain
The name of human you can not pertain
Fernando (El Salvador)
‘My pictures talk about my life like a drama in three acts: my life and loss in El Salvador; the journey to the UK seeking for new horizons; and my new life in this city, where I do not feel alone. Along with the music provided below, they will tell you my story:’
Loss and Memories in El Salvador
‘I am here to tell my story, my life and the reason why I came to the UK. In particular, I would like to tell you about my little brother so that his name may be remembered. I love my country, it is nice and warm there, but it is not safe. I fled El Salvador after my brother was killed by a local gang.’
Journey, Message and Hope
‘I often dream about my brother. I think this is the way my mind is trying to cope with grief and loss. At the same time, this allows me to keep in touch with all my family even if we are no longer together.
When we are far away and feel alone, friends and family support is important.’
Clouds, Freedom and Dream (Nubes, Libertad y Sueño)
‘I came to the UK to pursue a career in data analytics. My dream is to open my own company so that my family can come live with me. Every morning, when I wake up, I write to my family and friends about simple things that make me happy: travelling by train for the first time; seeing frost outside of the hotel window; or talking about the people I see and the support I receive here in St Albans. I never feel alone.’
Yevhen (Ukraine), Cossacks Family Portrait, 1925
‘The people in this picture are my ancestors. They escaped from Kuban to the countryside close to Kyiv during the so-called De-Cossackization, between 1919 and 1933. My grandfather is the little child on the lady’s lap. This picture was securely hidden away behind a mirror for 75 years. Between 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians were killed by the Holodomor, also known as the Great Famine.
As a child, my grandparents often reproached me for being a fussy eater and used to tell me “had you been caught up in the famine, you would definitely have much greater appetite now!”
Like my grandparents, I had to flee my homeland because I was no longer safe there. I applied for asylum but I would like to get a pre-settled status as soon as possible. I want to be a worthy member of this unique community, to which I am most grateful, as well as a good citizen and a vet. The songs below are part of my identity:’
Roman (Ukraine) My Goals for my Future in the UK
‘I like both the music and pictures in this video because they show the pride and beauty of my country.’
