The Gallery
On this page we showcase collections of videos, recordings, word art, photographs, and drawings submitted to this project by contributors from many parts of world. They use any medium and means accessible to them, mostly smartphones, to communicate their experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Contributions are all from asylum seekers and refugees from many parts of the world.
photography

Corona Collage
1/2: Collage by Hassan Altabbaa, a Kurdish Syrian man who writes: “I created the collage to document the beginning of the pandemic and the world’s reaction to it. I hoped to convey my strong sense of the media floundering everywhere to inform the public and explain the pandemic. I have used mainly British newspapers as I’m living in the UK. But I also use the Uncle Sam image – a popular symbol of US government in American culture and expression of patriotic emotion to allude to how Donald Trump has blamed other countries while taking no responsibility for allowing the virus to spread across the USA.”
Click through to view all of our contributions, each with an interesting story to tell.

Corona Collage
2/2: I wanted to show how this virus spreads from society to families and if you can’t protect your family, no one will protect it for you. So as a principle of change, we must all start with changing ourselves and our behaviour, then family, then society. And the big question mark is next to the image of the very first British woman to die from the virus. Her fate, our fate and the fate of the world are bound together”

Protests at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire
1/3: Repeated protests have been held at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire since September. Asylum seeker residents compare it to a prison. The former Ministry of Defence camp was repurposed to house up to asylum seekers. One of our researchers who wishes to remain anonymous has visited the camp several times to translate for a resident who is experiencing severe mental health problems.

Protests at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire
2/3: He says the men describe the conditions are described as “unbearable” and overcrowding means that social distancing is impossible. Penally has been a magnet for far right mobilisation from across the UK to protest at asylum-seekers living locally.

Protests at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire
3/3: Our researcher says that local people have been more concerned about the protests themselves which required some 70 police officers a day at the peak.

Swansea’s Vibrant Solidarity Networks
1/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

Swansea’s Vibrant Solidarity Networks
2/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

Swansea’s Vibrant Solidarity Networks
3/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

Swansea’s Vibrant Solidarity Networks
4/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

The Drama of the Migrants’ Journey Minute by Minute
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, is accused of enabling Greece to illegally push migrants back to Turkey. Frontex appears to be playing a more central role on purportedly upholding the rule of law on Greece’s external borders while also concealing ‘push-backs’. This image shows a log of activity from 26 November 2020 which was circulated on social media among solidarity groups in Greece.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Swansea as a City of Sanctuary
1/3: City of Sanctuary is a national movement committed to building a welcoming culture of hospitality, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution. To celebrate, local artists and asylum-seekers and refugees are co-creating a series of public art works on the theme around welcome, home and safety.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Swansea as a City of Sanctuary
2/3: These serve as a legacy of the anniversary and to show how proud Swansea is to be a City of Sanctuary. Swansea artist, Mary Hayman, as part of her community artwork with Glynn Vivian gallery, is supplying local people with a hexagon of fabric which they decorate at home to celebrate City of Sanctuary. These will be incorporated into a canopy for the gallery garden and possibly also flags or bunting.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Swansea as a City of Sanctuary
Hanan Beko, a local tailor, is working on the cutting, hemming and sewing together. Here are some initial hexagons, we will keep you updated on the progress of the public artwork.

Lazy cat
Sara said: “We hoped the cat lent to us by a friend before lockdown might catch the mice. The cat was very cute, but lazy and expensive to keep especially after corona. As a joke I placed a computer mouse on its back and sent my friend a screenshot saying: she finally caught a mouse”

Not being at school
On 15 March we were informed that the schools would close ‘cos of Corona virus. We were shocked. (…) Only children whose parents were in politics, doctors or firefighters, were allowed to go to school. The first day it was fun, but after one week I wanted to go back to school but I wasn’t allowed. I miss school, teachers, friends, a lot. I hope everyone is safe. I hope the corona virus quickly goes away. With love from Atima.”
Translated from Dutch by Helen

Migrant solidarity in The Hague
1/2: Joy said: “I feel fortunate to play a role in helping my fellow undocumented migrants by distributing food packs from Red Cross and others. The pandemic crisis has terrible impact for undocumented people without work. They end up begging.”

Migrant solidarity in The Hague
2/2: Undocumented people can be activists and help others, even during a period as precarious as lockdown.

Uncertainty
Victor Flores and his wife, from El Salvador, are in the UK since last year waiting for a Home Office response to their asylum claim. This photo titled “Uncertainty” shows the innocent happiness of their one-year-old son under lockdown, but it expresses the family’s mixed feelings as well

Many Things
Ruth is a Venezuelan migrant who fled from her country to seek asylum in the UK with her immediate family, leaving many behind. She worked as a teacher for 24 years and applied her creativity in teaching preschool kids. During the pandemic lockdown she started painting again. This work depicts the many feelings she has experienced and what she has been going through.

Talking about hair falling out
1/7: Week 10 of lockdown in the Hague: Sara says: “I’m in a constant situation of stress, depression, grief and sadness for most of my life.

Talking about hair falling out
2/7: A life in which I was denied even the most basic rights, labelled as illegal, refugee, stateless… Especially these last couple of years drained me so much, I felt hardly alive anymore.

Talking about hair falling out
3/7: That left its mark on my health. I feel that my hair is falling out so much. During lockdown I had too much free time, I was dwelling on very sad memories, and the terrible situation I’m in filled my heart with total sadness… I felt my hair was falling out like the withered leaves of a tree.

Talking about hair falling out
4/7: I talked about it with a good friend. She wanted to bring me a hair growth serum, but she was stuck as well.

Talking about hair falling out
5/7: Maybe a serum will help, but as long as the situation remains the same, the state of mind, which harms my health, will stay the same as well…”

Talking about hair falling out
6/7: Helen comments: She is texting her friend and shows such kindness, talking of her friend’s hair as like velvet when she herself is afraid of losing her own hair.

Talking about hair falling out
7/7

A Place of stillness and the divinity within you
This image shows a street which is normally very busy, full of traffic, but it is quiet due to the Covid lockdown. The setting sun behind the trees and the church tower in the distance creates a mysterious effect. The contributor said: “When you enter a place of stillness, you awaken the divinity within you”

Family metaphors
1/4: Carlos said: “These photos show an asylum seeker family (one parent, 2 children) in metaphors. Discovering daisies on the first springtime walk in the UK.

Family metaphors
2/4: Unity but far distance. Hands united, each with a handful of blackberries: wishing all the family to be reunited.

Family metaphors
3/4: The parent struggles to keep going, separated, isolated, mixed feelings, but still going on together.”

Family metaphors
4/4

Birthday party during lockdown
1/2: The past 6 months have been quite challenging for my kids. Lockdown meant they were unable to go out and socialise – missing out on schools and other social aspects of everyday life.

Birthday party during lockdown
2/2: In the midst of all this, we managed to visit our friends and celebrate a birthday of our friend MO. This is the first birthday party that we attended in 2020.

Baking during lockdown
1/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

Baking during lockdown
2/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

Baking during lockdown
3/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

Baking during lockdown
4/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

Doing business during lockdown
2/2: “Demand increased and we opened a new branch and recruited new staff. All of us are refugees and migrants. We worked so hard during this period and our hard work paid off.”

Doing business during lockdown
1/2: Mr Rashid says: “Lockdown has hit many businesses hard in Germany. But it has been quite positive for me and my new food business. We have adapted very quickly to this new reality.”

My child is a Covid Warrior
Ahmad said: “School asked if my daughter would be happy to take part in a Covid testing trial. We accepted and she has been very brave. She took part in the experiment and was awarded a Covid Warrior certificate for her role in fighting corona virus.

Graffiti Art in Birmingham
Powerful graffiti art by Josh Billingham (aka Gent48) in Birmingham, photographed by Ahmad. The work celebrates key workers including members of Birmingham’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities who have been fighting the terrifying monster, COVID-19. More information here.

Keys: A Symbol of Trust
Jack said: “For a Filipino domestic worker like me, the key is a symbol of trust that binds us with our employer. We always keep them safe. This week, I took out the keys for my employers’ houses. I haven’t used some of them since the lockdown. Now I will start using them again. My employers texted me to come to work

Thank God it’s just a nightmare
“It’s a Nightmare and I’m alive
It’s dark and frightful
I can hear the ambulances
People running everywhere in all directions
My heart races fast
I turn around and still
It’s dark, frightful and lonely
Can anyone hear me? I screamed…”
Vicky’s Poem 25.06.2020

Tree of Life
1/2: Sara’s words: “I love painting but never had the time for it. These paintings I made during corona. One is a semi self-portrait: feeling cut off from life, symbolized by the tree, also hiding behind the tree for safety.”

Tree of Life
Sara’s words: “During corona I didn’t have much materials. I picked the bear because of the details. The more details, the more realistic it will look”

Hop Food Bank, Swansea
1/3: Ann Griffiths, volunteer at HOP Food Bank, told Marie: “I was dismayed by some of the stories I read on this website. These are important stories to tell.”

Hop Food Bank, Swansea
2/3: “These are important stories to tell. We too are doing what we can to raise awareness of the asylum seekers’ and refugees’ plight. I have found that not many people are really aware of their needs which is why I wanted to offer pictures of our work during the Covid crisis.”

Hop Food Bank, Swansea
3/3: “So many people have had to resort to Food Banks to feed their families”

New refugee camp on Lesvos flooded
4/4:

Thank you NHS and care workers
A colourful house in South Wales supporting the NHS and care workers.

Vandalising the homes of those who support refugees on Lesvos
Racist attacks are on the rise across Europe. Doorways of refugee support workers in Greece daubed with red paint. Reminiscent of times of plague when it was common to mark the doors of victims of the disease with in red paint. Please see our blog “Spiral of Hate: Lockdown on Lesvos” by Lena Altinglou.

Ramadan Under Lockdown - Children's home made mosques

Ramadan Under Lockdown - Children's home made mosques

Ramadan Under Lockdown - Children's home made mosques
3/3: We got the idea to make a home-made mosque from our friends. They shared their plans and photos with us on WhatsApp. We didn’t have a lot of space in our living room or a lot of cardboard but we had paints and coloured paper to make a mini mosque. We all shared photos of our home-made mosques and had a Zoom Party with friends. It wasn’t as good as seeing them but it was better than nothing.

World Beyond Fence
Usually I’m desperate to go out, I can jump over this fence, or break the panels, to escape, but today I want to stay in way behind the fence, to avoid people pass by, I may need to have a thicker net, the world has become stand still, the grass is definitely greener this side!
(An asylum seeker in Swansea)

Lockdown workspaces at home

Support the NHS (a rainbow dress for Cindy)
This Kyrgyz asylum seeking family are shielding under lockdown. The mother has made her 5 year old daughter a rainbow Cindy dress to support the NHS.

Where has all the toilet paper gone?
“One thing that I still can’t understand is why one of the very first items that disappeared from the shelves was toilet paper. Since mid March I have seen many many people buying large quantities of toilet paper. This week I was going for grocery shopping and I realised that all the toilet paper disappeared from the shelves. The only toilet paper I saw was of a graffiti that recently appeared in one of my local streets’’.

Ramadan in the time of Covid-19

Freedom Air
Armando took a shot of himself taking a “deep breath of freedom”. Armando and his family are asylum seekers looking for protection after fleeing from gangs in El Salvador.
Wordart

Are you scared?
A different perspective on wearing face masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in public places or at work. Refugees are forced to leave their homeland due to threats to their lives. Therefore, they are always anxious. This refugee, who is also a key worker, feels good about wearing a mask. It’s not just a protection from the virus but from other possible threats – even threatening looks or aggression because of the colour of your skin. When the world is in lockdown, it’s the safest moment to go out for refugees and asylum seekers.
Click through to view all of our contributions, each with an interesting story to tell.
It’s so rare that refugees have a real and present platform to express themselves fully and without constraint. This project is not just about asylum seekers or refugees it’s an archive that is being co-created with them and for them. It’s a living archive that will always remain and remind future generations of this very strange moment in time and it will show them how people suffered but also how they worked together to gather and collect these stories of their lives – it’s a living museum.
Sophie De Marco 🌈
Asylum Seeker & Refugee Advice Worker, Asylum Rights Programme
Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support Team Wales (EYST Wales)
Regarding my hopes and dreams, my dearest wish is for the whole world to enjoy peace and safety, ending all wars, and for every child in the world to have the right to life. And my dearest wish for our beloved Syria is that after so much devastation and destruction of our homes, our lives, our history and our culture, that we will be able to leave a Syrian footprint in this world to show the true extent of our culture and our love for the world. And finally, I wish to integrate Arabic and European Culture in my next artworks and I thank this project for supporting me as an artist.
Hassan Al Tabbaa, Graphic Designer, Painter, Sculptor
So many families have had to choose between phone and food during lockdown. Without access to the internet children miss out on schooling, doctor’s and solicitors cannot be contacted, families cannot stay in touch and social isolation has a devastating impact on mental health. This is digital poverty.
Thanuja Hettiarachchi and Kelly Wearing, Asylum Rights Support Workers

Moria Camp, Lesvos, Greece
Photos by journalist Katy Fallon, who reported on the destruction of Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos in September. The graffiti ‘Human Rights Graveyard. Welcome to Europe’ sums up the grim reality: tens of thousands condemned to misery in prison-like conditions, just because they want a safe and better life.

Diary reflection on Time
Vicky’s hand-written diary entry dated 21.06.2020 starts by asking us as readers to: think about what you really care about. She ends with:
Now is the time and chance
It’s never too late
Don’t forget to always visit yourself.
Helen commented: The effect is pretty poetic. Something between prose and a poem, perhaps.

Thank you NHS and frontline workers
“My daughter who is staying at home and is unable to go to school due to Covid-19 has seen this poem somewhere online and thought she would write it down and colour it. She has been inspired by the hard work of all frontline workers and told me that she wants to be a nurse when she grows up so she could look after people”.

Eid celebrations in Corona times

World view challenged

Thursday Clapping found us new friends

Out Out
A satirical combination; material of a well- known comedian and UK government policy. UK government communication has been the subject of fierce attack from many corners. In particular, the mixed messaging which has been very confusing for British citizens who by and large have abided strictly by the rules. However, as the lockdown has eased, we can see the effects of this mixed messaging in the behaviour of the public where some ignore while others stick by the rules. Further confusion has arisen as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ in their lockdown policies. As fears of a second wave rise, the government need to communicate more clearly.

Nation / Imagination

This is not Europe: an apology
Recordings

Mi Jardin - My Garden
Ruth is a Venezuelan migrant who fled from her country to seek asylum in the UK with her immediate family, leaving many behind. She worked as a teacher for 24 years and applied her creativity in teaching preschool kids. During the pandemic lockdown she started gardening, growing flowers and vegetables for first time in UK. In this audio she relates her experience.

Giving birth in lockdown

Syrian family sharing experiences of Covid-19 Test
A Syrian woman who currently resides in England shares her thoughts on Cov-19 and what it means to her and her family.

Facing quarantine alone in Colombia
Yesenia shares her testimonial about living during the pandemic in Colombia with her child. A touching story and expression of emotions.

Can’t Plan

Public Health Wales and Black Lives Matters
drawings & paintings

Fake News and COVID
“The internet has been flooded with lots of fake news about vaccines, medicines, conspiracy theories that left many people even more confused about this very strange virus’’.
Art by Dijwar Ibrahim Siraj

Corona Covid Crown

Entrapment

Confinement

Loving Horses

The Holy Trinity
Like many people, Mahsah had many challenges during lockdown to stay safe and avid giving in to depression.
“Many people also turned to religion during lockdown whether by praying or reflecting on the kind of existential questions addressed differently in different religions. Here we see an image of the Holy Trinity emerging from the crucifix.”

Dancing with my daughter

Woman in headdress
