Safe Haven?

Spokes and I went along to Central Library this evening for the launch of a photography exhibition called 'Is Liverpool a Welcoming Place for Asylum Seekers and Refugees?'

The photographs in the show were all taken by refugees and asylum seekers from a range of countries and the captions they'd added to their photos were, on the whole, pretty positive about Liverpool and its people although poverty means that they - like many indigenous Scousers - are excluded from much of the city's cultural life. Libraries, where they still exist, being an exception to this rule - places where it's possible to access information/learn, dream, think, just 'be', where you don't have to justify yourself or spend money/consume.

On the less positive side, one photographer wrote that nobody had ever said hello to him on his street and that although he said hello to his neighbours he never got a response that he felt showed any kind of real feeling or warmth. This social isolation and lack of community is a really challenging aspect of life for people uprooted from their own communities.

Another photographed the dereliction and (dog) dirt he saw in his neighbourhood which reminded me of the Somali colleague I used to work with who told me that when she'd first arrived in Liverpool she asked people whether there'd been a recent civil war because there were so many derelict buildings.

I spoke to a few of the exhibitors, including this lovely chap who was happy for me to take his photograph.

The group hope to stay together and to show their work in different venues to a range of audiences over the coming months.