Our latest arts and heritage project ‘A View from Here’ is now in full swing. So many good people have joined to tell the story of the lives lived in high rise flats in Gorbals and Knightswood. In this blog two of our amazing volunteers share their views from the project.

Paria Moazemi Goodarzi

I have volunteered for the Arts and Cultural Development team for more than a year now, starting as a designer at last year’s Refugee Week Scotland.

Right now it feels like nothing could be more exciting for me than to take on the role as visual art volunteer in ‘A View from Here’. It is a wonderful project that works with the people who live in some of Glasgow’s high rise buildings. The flats in Gorbals and Knightswood are to be demolished, and ‘A View from Here’ tells the stories of all the lives once lived in and around them. I used to live in a similar high rise flat, and it makes me happy to be able to share my story, too.

Expressing ideas

It is very interesting to me, when people are chatting and participating in the activities, and most importantly, when I can see that people are happy and interested in each other’s lives. It also gives a really great feeling, when I can help people express their thoughts and visualise their heritage. Before this project many of the people couldn’t express their creative ideas, but when I help them, we can create a whole collage of ideas! 

For me personally it is also really great to work with the group, professional artists and the most supportive person, Suzi Simpson from Scottish Refugee Council. It is a great honour and I learn a lot. I am really looking forward to the exhibitions and performances.

A welcome surprise

I must admit that before the project started, my view of the people who live in these areas wasn’t the best. But since I started working on the project and connecting with this group of people my views have changed: The Scottish people from these areas are very friendly, too. It’s always really nice to find out.

 

Iman Tajik

I started volunteering with the Arts and Cultural Development team as a volunteer photographer a couple of months back at the big event of the year – Refugee Week Scotland. It was a great opportunity for me to use my photography skills and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a really good experience for me, because I got the chance to show my abilities to the public and to photograph a wide variety of arts events. 

After this great experience, I was looking forward to another chance to get involved with a similar project – and then Scottish Refugee Council contacted me about ‘A View from Here’.

My experience

I have lived in a high rise flat myself, so it was very interesting for me to become involved with this project, and through a series of creative workshops, we will create a unique real life story-based performance and exhibition of photography, object and film.

I am working on a collage for the exhibition and with one of the participants, who will tell my personal story in the performance. I am also documenting the project with images, and you can follow the process in my pictures on social media sites Pinterest and Flickr.

A great opportunity

I am very much enjoying the project so far, I have met new talented people, and I have a lot of fun with them during the workshops. But for me the most important part of the project is to work with professional artists Carrie Ann Newman, Jan Nimmo and Basharat Khan. I am learning many important things from them for my future life in art. I am also learning a bit about how an arts project comes together from our lovely manager, Suzi Simpson.

I am so pleased that I could be a part of this great team and get to improve my skills with them. And finally, I am looking very much forward to seeing the result of our work in November.