When the UK voted for Brexit in June 2016, artists Jess Nash and Erin Aniker watched on in dismay as anti-immigrant rhetoric and xenophobia spiked in the country, along with a rise in the number of hate crimes. As women of color in the creative industries, they had an acute familiarity with the prejudice and stigma that people face in the country—and they wanted to use their backgrounds in illustration and design to do something about it.
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"We decided that it was the perfect time to start conversations about the fact that for lots of us, our families come from amazing places and so that's something to celebrate," Aniker says. We Are Here UK begun as a group show in July 2017 and has since evolved into a collective of women and non-binary artists of color.In August, Aniker and Nash opened their latest show, Neither Here, Nor There, at the Foundry in London. This time, they teamed up with Nasreen Shaikh Jamal Al Lail, an artist who founded the Muslim women artists’ collective Variant Space."The exhibition is important because it shows connections from cross cultural identities and also showcases a broader narrative that allows the artists work to co-exist with each other and make connections," Jamal Al Lail explains. "It gives a bigger picture of what art means for BME women and non-binary artists and Muslim women, and how these narratives overlap and how our experiences are shared."The exhibition features 21 artists from the UK and further afield, all of whom are showing work that explores their dual heritage or feelings of displacement in a white, male-dominated society."Nasreen, Jess, and I wanted to work together to create a broader feeling of community amongst various BME [Black and minority ethnic, a term commonly used in the UK] communities and artists and those who feel othered by the existing 'pale, male, and stale' art world," Aniker explains.
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"For me," Nash adds, "it’s a really important thing to have a platform for all people. A lot of us have been born here so by birth we're British but we have a whole other heritage which is amazing, and it’s important to talk about how those two concepts work together."Below, some of the artists from Neither Here, Nor There showcase their work and speak to Broadly about their reasoning and process behind the piece.Neither Here, Nor There runs until 20 September at the Foundry in Vauxhall, London.
Hair by Jess Nash
Diclosed by Maha Alasaker
Fifty, Fifty by Francesca Tiley
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ROOTS by Lamyaa Hanchaoui
The Border by Saffa Khan
For Astaghfirullah & Masha’allah by Areeba Siddique
British Girl by Aleesha Nandhra
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