September 2024

Curated by Merrydith Russell and Matin Ahirad

37 Looe Street Plymouth

‘Asylum is more of a social term like a student, rather than being a foreigner. You will never always be a student you will graduate. Then, afterwards, they will call you by your name’

- Matin Ahirad

The Home challenges our understanding of what 'home' means, encouraging guests to reflect on their own definitions. The works tell the stories of lone male asylum seekers starting new lives in Plymouth. This exhibition, part of Curatorial Justice, integrates lived experiences into the curatorial process, moving beyond mere community engagement. It combines tacit and haptic knowledge with contemporary archaeology to explore how objects and traces of the past shape our understanding of self.

Since Plymouth was designated a Dispersal city in 1999, little has been documented about refugees' experiences. The maps in this series explore themes of identity, well-being, and safety, tracing the journey from homeland to new spaces of shelter. The interwoven identities in these maps prompt us to question the concept of 'future homes. 

The exhibition is the developmental presentation of Merrydith Russell’s PhD research project at the University of Plymouth, The Making of Home: a feminist approach to the curatorial practice of object archaeology in the Context of forced displacement and Domesticity. Building upon a series of workshop interviews that took place in residency at The Box (2023). Where co-creative researchers: Matin Aharid, Mosa Nafadi, Letif Khogyani, Abed Aharid and Reza Shirali map their experience of home through drawings, collage, journalling, weaving, photography, it has been a great honour to be present through this sharing process and whiteness friendship, trust and kindness bond through great hardship. Thanks to Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support for all your guidance and championing art-based research.