Rights in Action at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival
Our Marketing & Admin Coordinator Anna went to the Maryhill Integration Network "Rights in Action" exhibition and event at Byres Community Centre on Tuesday 17th October. Read more about it in this blog!
Rights in Action exhibition and research
The Rights in Action event focused on a research project into mental health in people who are seeking asylum, by Maryhill Integration Network and Poverty Alliance. It was hosted at Byres Community Centre.
The research is titled ‘The life of Glasgow pigeons is more certain’, highlighting how difficult it is to build a secure, safe life when going through the asylum process.
The research was created using photography by New Scots (aka refugees and people seeking asylum) in the local community, and the exhibition includes some of those photos. I thought this was a really interesting way to do research, and the photos are a brilliant way to share personal stories.
The photos in the exhibition capture inequality in Glasgow, the poor conditions that New Scots are expected to live in, and the activities that support wellbeing (like art, nature and sports).
Members of the Maryhill Integration Network also shared some poems written in multiple different languages, and the community researchers highlighted some key findings in the report.
You can read more about Maryhill Integration Network on their website. Look out for their brilliant petition to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum, too.
The exhibition is part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, officially running until Sunday 22 October.
You can visit the Rights in Action exhibition, plus another brilliant mental health focused exhibition Chance2Change: Health Inequalities Photojournalism, at the Byres Community Centre (in the Clarice Pears Building, University of Glasgow). It was also great to see some art from other local groups like Possobilities, Make It Glasgow and Lambhill Stables!
We’re hoping to do more blogs about exhibitions in the local area, so get in touch if there’s an exhibition coming up that you’d like us to write about!