Homeland, an exhibition that follows an 18-month residency of photographer and visual artist Paulina Korobkiewicz, addresses themes of political identity, belonging, memory and representation among migrant communities in West Bromwich and Hyson Green, with a specific focus, but not limited to, Polish migrant communities. Throughout the residency, Korobkiewicz familiarised herself with these areas and established relationships with members of the migrant communities, initiating dialogues and participating in local celebrations and events, researching and creating a contemporary portrait of those places.
The project focuses on the visibility of the communities within these areas, examining how migrants have influenced the urban landscape while also contributing to and interacting with these diverse communities in their current homes. The photographs depict the people, the geometries and shapes of these multicultural towns, the fusion of nostalgia for home, and the present memories, realities and connections.
Korobkiewicz’s residency contributed to the broader research project Post-Socialist Britain?: Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German, Polish and Ukrainian Immigrants in the UK, as part of which she attended and observed a series of photography workshops used as a research method to give migrants a platform to share their experiences through photography.
Accompanying Korobkiewicz’s work, Homeland exhibition also includes photographic projects from Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak, Yuxi Hou, Ismail Khokon, and Marcin Forys, participants of the Central European Photography Club, with whom she worked closely during her residency, through mentoring and sharing experiences.
This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and it is part of a collaborative project with the University of Birmingham and Nottingham Trent University. The exhibition is curated by Rafailia Thiraiou.
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Surface Gallery, Nottingham 2023
Homeland, Surface Gallery, Nottingham 2023
Homeland, Surface Gallery, Nottingham 2023
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Centrala Space, Birmingham 2023
Homeland, Surface Gallery, Nottingham 2023