Dr Rehan Zia, Principal Academic in Computer Animation is exhibiting his latest photography project called ‘The hands that feed us’ which is currently on display in The Lees Gallery on Bournemouth University’s (BU) Talbot Campus. The exhibition which runs until 28 January 2025 was inspired by Dr Zia’s own, personal experience as a first-generation immigrant to the UK, as well as the negative rhetoric to immigration from political parties in the lead up to the 2024 election.
Dr Zia who wants to identify and highlight the positive contributions that UK immigrants and refugees make to society said: “In the lead up to the UK national election both Tories and Labour presented immigration as a national emergency and so it was no surprise when the riots broke out. In contrast I wanted to demonstrate in my photography that migrants and refugees bring great value to society by performing key functions within it.”
‘The hands that feed us’ exhibition focuses on migrants who have entered the UK to work in the hospitality sector. It shows the variety of workers from different countries, cultures and religions working behind-the-scenes in UK restaurants and bars, cooking and serving food. Dr Zia continued: “Being an immigrant myself and having the lived experience of dealing with racism and abuse hurled at myself and my loved ones, I wanted to counter the negative, anti-migrant, anti-refugee political and media rhetoric that is sometimes portrayed. I wanted to capture hardworking people putting everything into their work to serve an important function in the community, in this case, that of serving food.”
Dr Zia hopes to expand his exhibition into a series of themes including: ‘The hands that heal us,’ focusing on migrants working within the NHS, ‘The minds that teach us’ highlighting migrants who teach and ‘The souls that support us,’ looking at care workers.
Along with helping people to understand the positive impact of migration, Dr Zia hopes to help reduce the inequalities that exist in society with migrant groups as he explained: “My aim was also to align the exhibition with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals in relation to reducing world-wide inequalities. By facilitating acceptance and cohesion of migrants and refugees, through this exhibition, I hope to break down the barriers that restrict them from going further and achieving more in life.”
‘The hands that feed us’ exhibition runs until 28 January 2025 can also be viewed online.
