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Based on collaborative research from IOE and people who have sought asylum in the UK, the “My name is not asylum seeker!” exhibition aims to confront prevailing dehumanising narratives.

Nadia Mendez Guevara assembles sections of the exhibition. IOE Communications.

This week, the pop-up exhibition moves to Doncaster after being shown in Halifax last month. It was created in collaboration with two community partner organisations, St Augustine’s Centre in Halifax and the Doncaster Conversation Club. 

The exhibition explores the everyday lives of people waiting for decisions on their applications. It focuses particularly on the experiences of those housed in Halifax and Doncaster, two significant ‘dispersal’ towns for people in the asylum system, both with a deep history of migration. 

The installation is designed similarly to the frameworks of a house, inviting visitors to move through the space. Panels draw attention to the various parts of the structure like its walls and floors, bringing to light the housing issues faced by those seeking sanctuary. 

It presents a physical demonstration of the way people were subjected to the asylum system of the time – housed in ‘no-choice' accommodations that were low-quality and restrictive, but due to their circumstances could not be changed.

The exhibition is based on research undertaken by IOE’s Professor Mette Louise Berg and Dr Eve Dickson, together with people who have lived experiences of the UK asylum system. 

The co-research looked at the system of asylum housing provision, where people seeking sanctuary in the UK are assigned accommodations they cannot choose in under-resourced dispersal areas. 

The findings indicate that poor housing conditions can create additional barriers for those seeking asylum, including marginalisation in the communities they are placed in and division from relevant support services. 

However, people seeking asylum are also spending more time living in these accommodations while waiting for decisions on their applications due to backlogs in the Home Office system – often longer than 6 months to years. 

As two co-researchers, Faith and Sanaa El-Khatib, wrote last year: 

We are people. We have rights. So, respect and feel for us. Welcome us and call us by our names, because my name is not ‘asylum seeker’.

Professor Berg says, “‘My name is not asylum seeker!’ centres and foregrounds the perspectives and views of people in the asylum system... These are people with names, hopes, disappointments, and dreams.”

Links

• More about the exhibition
• Read on the IOE Blog: “My name is not ‘asylum seeker’”
• Professor Mette Louise Berg’s UCL profile
• Dr Eve Dickson’s UCL profile
• Thomas Coram Research Institute (TCRU)
• Social Research Institute