This innovative exhibition, running simultaneously in the UK and Turkey, will help to promote understanding of global displacement challenges, and forge new solidarities between exhibition visitors in London and İzmir.
This exhibit engages with two of the defining global challenges of our times: large scale displacement and rapid urbanisation. More than one per cent of the global population (84 million people), are forcibly displaced from their homes and countries because of conflict, war, poverty, climate change and other reasons. Today, displaced people typically move to cities and towns instead of humanitarian camps, living in dwellings not fit for human habitation, working in low-paid informal settings, with limited assistance from the state, international aid providers.
UK news headlines frequently dehumanise displaced people. Emphasis is given to the sudden arrival of migrants and refugees on the British shores, through perilous boat crossings. Yet, globally, the great majority of displaced people stay in the regions where they have come from. These stories receive far less media attention. The city of İzmir in Turkey, for instance, houses 195,000 Syrians, to contrast sharply with a total of 20,000 Syrians given refuge in the UK. In İzmir, organisations such as Team International Assistance for Integration (TIAFI) provide a nursery, children’s and adult’s education, kitchen, skills training, legal advice, and other forms of critical support to Turkish, Roma and Syrian communities living in its low-income neighbourhoods.
In our exhibition at the BA Summer Showcase 2022, visitors will have an opportunity to connect with the TIAFI community, in digital, material and symbolic ways. The interactions and activities in London will be happening simultaneously at TIAFI. Additionally, a community wellbeing space is being constructed on TIAFI’s rooftop, led by a group of student architects. Attendees at the event will be invited to create materials that will be used in the final build, creating a direct and long-lasting connection between people in London and İzmir. This building activity is embedded within the larger WHIT research and action project supported by the British Academy.
Presenters
- Dr Dolf te Lintelo, Principal Investigator WHIT, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
- Prof Dr Meltem Gürel, Dean of the Department of Architecture, Yaşar University, İzmir, Turkey.
- Mr Halil El Hac İbrahim – Syrian school teacher and translator, Team International Assistance for Integration (or Uluslararası Yardımlaşma ve Entegrasyon Derneği in Turkish), İzmir, Turkey.
- Anne O’Rorke, Director or Team International Assistance for Integration (or Uluslararası Yardımlaşma ve Entegrasyon Derneği in Turkish), İzmir, Turkey.
- Prof Robert Mull, Professor of Architecture, University of Brighton and Umeå University, Sweden.
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