Behjat Omer abdulla

The resulting exhibition, ‘Here Is My World’ explores the way in which artists combine diverse cultural influences and experiences in their work; how ideas, beliefs, experiences and even techniques from two cultures collide in pieces of art. To shed further light on this process, as well as artists resident in England the exhibition includes a number artists from beyond Britain who combine multiple cultural influences in their work. Thus ‘Here is My World’ incorporates work by artists from Zimbabwe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Ghana, Kurdistan and Romania.

The support of a number of people and organisations has been critical in bringing this project to fruition. Stuart Brown of Long Journey Home provided tireless assistance and advice, invaluable contacts amongst the refugee and asylum seeker community and help with funding, for all of which I am most grateful. Through Long Journey Home, financial support for the exhibition was provided by Nottingham City Council and Beyond Borders. The highly talented Aria Ahmed contributed the stunning poster and flier design.

Crocus Gallery owes its continued existence to a dedicated group to whom I am most grateful. Particular thanks is due to Kat Mickleson and her marketing and publicity team; the stoic invigilators who staff the gallery and Paul Bowring, Marie Drouin and their installation team. Claire Taylor, curator of ‘With Myself in Mind’, was the most organised and helpful of collaborators. I have also benefited from the experience and advice of Alyn Mulholland and Alice Thickett, to whom I offer appreciative thanks. The Dunkirk and Lenton Partnership Forum and Nottingham City Council also provide the Gallery with essential assistance. Lastly but most importantly, David Collard was a rock of reliable support.

Mirela Bistran was born in Botosani, Romania. Having survived cancer and taken a break from her work, Mirela has now returned to her art, expressing her obvious lust for life in bursts of colour. Since moving to England in 2008 she has sought to refine the visual and conceptual vocabulary that

emerges from the richness of different techniques. Mirela’s work can be found in public and private art collections both in United Kingdom and abroad. She currently lives and works in Nottingham.

Emmanuel Changunda is a stone sculptor from Zimbabwe who learnt to sculpt under the tutelage of the renowned Amos Supuni. His work is very much based on traditional primitive forms, structures and techniques from Zimbabwe’s Shona-speaking people. The beliefs and ancestral story telling passed down through this group inform the sensual shapes of his sculpture.

Cleo Jay is a multidisciplinary artist and theatre designer whose work is broadly inspired by the variety of human experiences, cultures and faiths, and she strives to create intimate, personal pieces in a world where identities are increasingly globalised. Another recurrent aspect of her work is the use of text, both written and spoken, as a basis for expression and communication. She has participated in various art and theatre festivals around the UK and Europe, exhibiting both solo works and collaborations. She is currently completing a PhD at SOAS, University of London, focusing on the use of theatre as a social and political tool in North Africa.

Sara Lerota grew up living and breathing the cross-cultural spirit of this exhibition in Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar is a city of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity with a complicated history in which different groups have long coexisted, and the links between the city’s various communities are symbolised by its iconic and historic bridge. Sara says ‘Growing-up in this kind of diverse society made me a person open to international, multicultural communication and cooperation.’ Sara works in pencil, pastel and acrylics to create works that aim to ‘initiate a thinking process, which makes the viewer an active participant’. A 2009 winner of an Art On Call award, Sara represented her country in world art project ‘Plus You’ in London, where she has exhibited in a number of galleries.

Obediar Madziva was born in Zimbabwe and has been sculpting in metal for nearly fifteen years. He uses recycled materials to create striking animal sculptures that are often life size. His work has been exhibited in Zimbabwe and Botswana and is held in numerous collections in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Naa Ahinee Mensah is an artist and philanthropist based in Nottingham who has been making art since childhood. She tells of her creativity as a child in Ghana creating designs in the sand, digging clay and sketching on the pavements with charcoal. Today she works in a wide variety of media, including traditional African crafts such as bead making and batik on fabric. Her work has been exhibited in a range of venues including Nottingham Castle. Ahinee has created a charity, the Tse Ataa Mensah Foundation, to raise funds for children’s education in Ghana.

Allan Njanji is a Zimbabwean who is passionate about all forms of the creative spectrum from fine art, sculpture and writing to film making. Currently studying television and film production and media studies, his work includes short films, music videos and documentaries.

Mina Rahimi moved to Nottingham from Iran. The colours and shapes of her work mesmerise the viewer, threatening to resolve into forms but remaining elusively abstract. While her work to date has been largely in acrylic, she has recently begun to create painstaking and astonishingly lifelike portraits.

Curator of the exhibition Dr Anna Drummond is a Nottingham art historian and curator whose museum career has included roles at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia and the Liverpool Biennial. She recently received her PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia, for a study of the representation of marriage in Italian Renaissance art. In 2006 she was awarded a series of scholarships to fund a year of intensive research in Italy, the results of which she has presented at conferences around the world. Anna contributes to journals, publications and exhibition catalogues, including most recently writing the exhibition guide for Ian Breakwell: The Elusive State of Happiness at QUAD Derby. In September Anna will begin teaching Florentine Renaissance Art at the University of Nottingham.