Homeland Exhibition @ Centrala — PAULINA KOROBKIEWICZ

A touring exhibition exploring themes of political identity, belonging, memory and representation.

Centrala is pleased to present Homeland, an exhibition following an 18-month residency of the photographer and visual artist Paulina Korobkiewicz. The exhibition opening will take place on the 6th of October at Centrala Gallery, Birmingham and on the 1st of December in Surface Gallery, Nottingham.

Homeland is departing from the research project Post-Socialist Britain?: Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German, Polish and Ukrainian Immigrants in the UK, a large-scale research project in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and the Nottingham Trent University exploring how and if memory is linked to political identity, and how this is manifested in a different national context.

Homeland will address themes of political identity, belonging, memory and representation among migrant communities in West Bromwich and Hyson Green, with a specific focus, but not limited to, Polish migrant communities. Throughout the residency, Korobkiewicz familiarised herself with these areas and established relationships with the members of the migrant communities, initiating dialogues and participating in local celebrations and events, researching and creating a contemporary portrait of those communities.

The exhibition will reflect on the visibility of the communities within the areas of focus (West Bromwich & Hyson Green), and serve as a platform to share experiences of migration from various perspectives. Korobkiewicz’s photographic series explores the visibility of the migrant community within public space and the importance of it.

Accompanying Korobkiewicz’s work, Homeland will also include photographic projects from Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak, Yuxi Hou, Ismail Khokon, and Marcin Forys, participants of the Central European Photography Club, with whom she worked closely during her residency, through mentoring and sharing experiences.

Homeland is also highlighting the importance and the role of the artist as a social agent. The partnership and collaboration between Centrala and the University of Birmingham commissioning an artist to conduct community-based research, establish trust, and share experiences and stories of migration through visual storytelling.

Centrala

Fri 06 Oct - Sat 18 Nov 2023

Unit 4 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RT

Opening Hours: Wed-Sat, 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Free Entry