The Bosnian House was abuzz with creativity on Monday morning. Students from Birmingham City South College and Golden Hillock School, along with women from the Bosnian community in Birmingham, worked together to create creative materials for World Refugee Day. The workshop was hosted by Bosnia UK Network , which, in collaboration with South City College and Salma Zulfiqar, organised a creative workshop with the aim of presenting refugee women from around the world who have found refuge in the UK in a unique and creative way.
The workshop was led by Salma Zulfiqar, an international abstract artist and activist working on migration. Her current creative projects focus on empowering refugee and migrant women by promoting integration, working to prevent hate crimes and extremism.
At Bosanska House, more than 40 women gathered to create pictures that reflect unity and solidarity and discuss ways to promote peace and tolerance in the community. The artist Zulfiqar collected all the pictures and artistically processed them into a unique work “UNITY”.
Her artwork has been exhibited in London, Birmingham, Paris, Greece and Dubai, and she was celebrated as one of Birmingham’s most inspiring women in the book “Once Upon A Time in Birmingham – Women Who Dared to Dream”. Salma has also worked around the world with the United Nations to raise awareness of humanitarian issues in conflict and developing countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Chad and Kenya.
The workshop was for all interested ladies who took the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange their experiences as refugees, while also laughing and surprising each other with their creativity.
