The Migration Museum is opening a new creative community space for people to relax, reflect, showcase artwork, and make opportunities to focus on professional development, innovation and make stronger connections.  The space will showcase the museum’s community engagement values, celebrate diversity, share stories, and platform the creativity of Lewisham’s communities.

We will work with 5 community curators to shape the creative programming of this space in 2024. The curators will support the museum in hosting captivating exhibits and events that feature people who live and create locally, narrating the diverse journeys and experiences of the people in and around the borough. The community curators will work collaboratively to create and carry forward the vision for the space.

The Community Curators will primarily work together to co-curate an exhibition to launch in the new Community Space in September 2024. They will be announcing a call-out for artists to exhibit their work in the upcoming exhibition soon – watch this space.

About our Community Curators

Our Community Curators have a shared connection to Lewisham – living, working, studying, volunteering, or organising in the borough.  

Amalia Syeda-Aguirre
Arbër Gashi
Ching Wong
Khevyn ‘BE’ Ibrahim
Tunu Brown

 

Amalia Syeda-Aguirre (she/her), Chile + Bangladesh

Amalia (She/Her) is a Lewisham based Community Organiser, Doula and Mother. She is of Chilean and Bangladeshi heritage. Both of Amalia’s parents arrived in the UK as refugees and she has spent much of her professional life working with refugees and asylum seekers in different capacities. Amalia is passionate about exploring the movement of people and transient identities through storytelling.

 

Arbër Gashi (he/him), Kosovo

Arber Gashi is a London-born writer, researcher, and visual artist of Kosovar descent. His research most poignantly culminated in the creation of his own digital archival and educational platform known as Balkanism (soon to launch their own publication)  – showcasing Balkan histories, memories, cultural narratives, diaspora experiences and heritage. He is a second generation refugee.

“I am eager to contribute to the Migration Museum as a community curator because I believe that my unique cultural background and experiences would allow me to contribute to an exhibition that seeks to uplift all stories. As the child of Kosovar refugee parents who fled the former Yugoslavia, narratives of displacement and migration have deeply influenced my life and practice as a writer, researcher and creative. With a connection to Lewisham, after having studied my BA History degree at Goldsmiths, UoL, I want to help curate a space that platforms the stories of local people, with an emphasis on the communities that do not get the representation they deserve. By embodying multiple intersectional identities as a Kosovar Albanian, Muslim, Brit, Londoner and as a part of the LGBT+ community, I directly recognise the complexities of having multifaceted identities.  This means that I always seek to approach my research and curatorial endeavours in an authentic, non-exploitative and people centred way. I am looking forward to curating a space that speaks to those in the Lewisham and wider London area, particularly with a connection to migration.”

 

Ching Wong (she/her), Hong Kong

Ching, a London-based film programmer and writer from Hong Kong of Malaysian-Indonesian-Chinese heritage, co-founded the Hong Kong Film Festival UK after moving to the UK in 2019. With deep ties to Lewisham, Ching seeks to engage the community in dialogue on diasporic identities through the exploration of creative curatorial practices in the programme.

 

Khevyn ‘BE’ Ibrahim (they/them), Ivory Coast

Khevyn ‘BE’ Ibrahim is a  Lewisham born and bred filmmaker focusing on creative producing short films and documentaries. They explore themes of family, society and existentialism, with hints of surrealism. Currently studying a master’s of research in Creative Arts and Social Justice where they are focusing on research through the archives on migration. They are second generation Ivorian. 

 

Tunu Brown (she/her), The Bahamas

Tunu is an architectural assistant. She is primarily joining this team to develop a deeper connection with her community, as she is a relatively new resident in Lewisham. She is also keen to gain experience in exhibition design. She is a first generation migrant from The Bahamas. 

“As someone with first-hand experience of some of the complexities of the migrant experience, I am excited at the prospect of learning the experiences of others and developing a community space in which to present these journeys and stories, in the process celebrating and honouring Lewisham’s communities. I’d like to contribute to the cultivation of environments which both make room for and celebrate marginalised voices. Coming at the project from an architectural background, I’m particularly looking forward to creating a comfortable and inviting public space for the local community, as so many of these types of spaces are slowly disappearing throughout the city.”