My Mother, My Country
8th - 30th June 2022
Milk Cafe
My Mother, My Country is an exhibition of new portraits and street photography by Sareh Abasi, Syeda Sadaf Anwar, Najat El Bouhali, Lydia Gitamvu, Morwenna Kearsley and Farzana Kousar.
Made during a series of weekly workshops, the photographs represent friendship, curiosity and humour (with a bit of glamour) and are a potent reminder of the power of photography to connect, to remember and to inspire.
Facilitated by Morwenna Kearsley as part of a Culture Collective residency in partnership with Street Level Photoworks.
In January 2022, I went along to Milk Café (a social enterprise set up to empower and support refugee and migrant women) in Govanhill to see if I could find anyone that might be interested in forming a new photography group with me. That day, Unity Sisters (a self-organised support group for asylum-seeking women, refugees and their children) were providing computer-skills training and I set up my photography kit on a corner table, hoping someone would want to join me. Over those first few weeks, I got to know Lydia, Syeda, Farzana and Najat through walking together, making pictures and sharing stories. Later, we were joined by Sareh whom I’d met during prior photography workshops I’d organised in Govanhill and whose photographs are featured in Reflector Volume 01. The photographs we have selected for this volume prioritise the portraiture we’ve made together over the last five months, although the group has built up a strong collection of street photography from in and around Govanhill too.
Milk Cafe
452 Victoria Road
Glasgow
G42 8YU
Opening Hours:
Thursday - Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm
Monday - Wednesday Closed