MKIAC first explored the virtual gallery platform as a way of reaching out in the face of the Covid-19 Pandemic to bring artists, creatives, young people and the wider community together to share artworks and personal responses to the challenges accentuated in a pandemic. Now returning to the opportunities presented by this digital space MKIAC are delighted to present through this digital platform, visual highlights of our project delivery in collaboration with valued funders and partners.
A core foundation of MKIAC calendar of events City of Codes and Light, this STEM festival originated from a partnership with Bletchley Park Trust, exploring the creative opportunities within Islamic principles of algebra and mathematics and celebrating the work of Alan Turing and colleagues. The event has grown into a 4 day festival featuring symposium discussion, music performance, a community lantern parade and stunning digital light projections. This festival reaches a wide range of audiences within Milton Keynes and from further afield. It provides learning and insight to new topics for school children, in 2024 bringing insight into AI and hearing the perspective of youth voice on this groundbreaking technology, diverse community groups are brought together through lantern making, a true combination of engineering skills with creativity if ever there was one! On the finale night in October 2024, 18,000 people shared in a stunning visual experience, witnessing the digital light projections onto Central Milton Keynes Library and following the parade into Campbell Park where the epic drones of Celestial provided Theatre in the Sky, in the words of their CEO John Hopkins ‘the sky is the new canvas’. Images featured within the gallery are highlights from both 2023 and 2024.
Our second gallery features Stories on the Plate, a project full of community impact. A group of refugees from Afghanistan were brought together through textile activity and through this medium they shared stories and forged friendships and bonds.
Bahami بهامي meaning ‘togetherness’ in Dari, is the second journey of Stories on the Plate. Its first journey, Tayeb, took place in 2022 and conjured up stories about the role of food and women in building a sense of home and community in refugee families. In its second iteration, Stories on the Plate has expanded the narrative towards the ecological impact of war and conflict through workshops with a group of Aylesbury-based Afghani refugee women and their food stories.
Images displayed within the gallery showcase the culmination of Bahami بهامي , combining the vibrant textile creations of the workshop participants, snapshots of their time on the project, and images from the stunning publication, co-produced with commissioned artist Youngsook Choi, with the powerful words of bilingual poet Golnoosh Nourpanah to serve up a visual feast of art and verse.
Recognised in 2022 as one of the Mayor’s chosen Charities, MKIAC plays a pivotal role in building community and connection and helping refugee families to resettle in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire area. The Afghan Refugee Project used the creation of textiles artworks through a series of workshops to create a safe environment in which refugee women were able to share their stories of escape from Afghanistan, as well as connect with each other and build bonds through shared recipes and emotional memories.
