Babylon Migrants Project

How often in the day are you silly? 💭 We’re living in a very serious world at the moment, but being silly can allow us moments of relief, joy and a chance to creatively express ourselves, often when language falls short. Ali recently delivered a workshop for @geo.london @geoabroad international students in London, exploring how theatre and silliness can be used as a tool for expression. Together they played theatre games, spoke about how other cultures use theatre to tell stories and how we connect to each other in a time of global challenges. Thank you for inviting us to share our silliness with you! 🩵

In Stoke, our group has been working on an exciting project for the past couple of weeks! Together with @_sarah_fraser and @acavaspodeworks , we’ve been making tableware for our upcoming summer exhibition taking place during Refugee Week in June! In this first session, Sarah shared the basics of pottery, with some of us having a go at throwing on the wheel. The group decorated plates, choosing words like Awad (a gift), Free and Hope 🤍 Excited to share some of the plates, mugs and bowls that we made in the next session…

At our London hub we were joined by Sam Ivin @sam_ivin again for a photography and collage workshop! Each person was assigned a colour at random and introduced to the basic rule of thirds. We went out on a photography walk to take 10 pictures of that colour. After, we headed back to choose our best pictures, print them and frame them, decorating the frame with quotes and drawings. It was exciting to develop our photography skills and learn new creative techniques for documenting our stories!

Fun pompom making at our London hub! This week we tapped into something a bit more crafty and meditative, allowing everyone space to breathe and create something nice to take home. And maybe you’ll see a pompom garland or two up at our next Babylon party 👀 Thank you @keshapompom for sharing your work with us!

At our London hub we were exploring drama and theatre techniques with Alicia Clarke @clarke_cici to develop our communication skills and build confidence for interviews and presentations. Public speaking can feel daunting for anyone, but especially when English might not be your first language! Alicia put us all at ease with drama games and playful exercises to break down those barriers together. We created short theatre scenes and performed them for each other, then practiced job interview scenarios. You could really see confidence building in the room, and this is what Babylon is all about! Creating spaces where young people feel able to take steps towards their own futures, in their own way 🙌🏼

At our Stoke hub, we had a go at making clay Mexican masks with Dan from @bartsstoke ! Our Stoke group often gets to work on lots of exciting ceramics projects (refugee week plans coming soon 👀) due to Stoke-on-Trent’s rich history of pottery and clay-making. This was the first session, moulding masks into expressive face shapes and learning different techniques to work with clay, taking inspiration from Mexican traditional crafts. We’re excited to share how we finished off these colourful masks…

We stand together! 🙌 Today we were marching alongside @togetheralliance plus so many amazing people and organisations, all united against the rise of the far right and the cruel, hostile politics that come with it. We were there to say clearly: that refugees are welcome here, and these inhumane border policies have no place in a just society! If you couldn’t make it, you can still make noise! Share things, talk about it, keep showing up in whatever way you can. This movement is bigger than one march!! (And thank you to @westlondonwelcome for the beautiful banner 🤝)

At our Stoke hub, we had a great time making Elderberry and Rosehip syrup with Jas from @forij.co.uk ! Using natural and foraged ingredients, our group made their own winter wellness syrups, combining making and cooking together 🫐🌿 This magical winter wellness syrup included grating fresh ginger, crushing cinnamon sticks and cloves, squeezing lemons, measuring ingredients out, and most importantly decorating our labels for bottles! This was such a warm and gentle workshop, thank you Jas for sharing with us!

Today is International Women’s Day 🌸 We’re taking a moment to celebrate the courage, strength, resilience and beauty (in all its forms!) of the women and people of marginalised genders that we are so lucky to work alongside! The women in our community carry so much, some having faced gender-based persecution, dangerous journeys, and institutions in the UK that have met them with suspicion rather than safety. And still they show up: creating, connecting, laughing, supporting one another, and making Babylon what it is 🙌 We also are reminded of the countless women and girls living under conflict and displacement across the world right now - whose strength and survival doesn’t often makes the headlines, but is no less real. To our community, our team, and our supporters - we thank you for everything you bring. Today and every day, we celebrate you! 💙🌍

We have been anxiously following events unfolding in Iran and the wider region. At Babylon, we work with displaced young people, many of whom have fled persecution in Iran. Many of our community are now living with deep anxiety for their loved ones back home who are under bombardment, as reports emerge that hundreds of children and civilians have already been needlessly killed in the conflict since last weekend. As the violence spreads across West Asia and the death toll rises, we once again stand in solidarity with all our community and all affected by the trauma of war, genocide and oppression – from Iran to Congo, Lebanon to Ukraine, Sudan to Palestine, and everywhere else where people are fighting for safety, peace and freedom. Babylon will continue to work hard to provide spaces of welcome and togetherness here in the UK. However, we also call on organisations and governments, nationally and internationally, to uphold international law and centre peace and human dignity in their responses; to recognise the devastating human cost of war on people who never choose it 🤍

CALL OUT: We’re looking for freelance Artist Facilitators to lead sessions at our London and Stoke-on-Trent hubs, working with young people aged 16–30 from asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant backgrounds. We are open to different art forms welcome, from visual arts to photography, theatre, dance, and more. Guest facilitators usually run 2–3 workshops over a couple of weeks, developing a short project with participants. This is a PAID opportunity, plus a small fee for materials. Have a short project idea or an interesting practice to share? Apply via the form in our bio. Note: This is not a job application. You will join our pool of freelance artist facilitators, and hub coordinators will contact you if they’d like to collaborate.

We loved having @sam_ivin come and share his photography work with us in Stoke! We recently shared an Artist Spotlight on Sam’s portrait series ‘Settling’, telling the stories of migration from around the world to Stoke-on-Trent. At our workshop, the group got involved in a collage activity, exploring identity and personal journeys through provoking images. Thank you Sam for coming and sharing your work with us!