One Song is an audio-visual installation and community project by artist Kadir Karababa that explores how music carries memory, identity and a sense of home across borders.

First begun in 2024, the project is an evolving archive of songs and stories developed with women who have personal experience of migration or seeking sanctuary.

Built through participation and shared experience, this iteration was developed with members of the Wakefield community. Each participant is invited to share a song that takes them back to the place they first called home. These songs form the foundation of the work, bringing together individual memories into a wider collective portrait.

The project is inspired by the artist’s own family history of migration from Eastern Turkey to London, and an interest in how songs are carried across borders while remaining rooted in the places they were first sung.

These songs are deeply personal, connected to family, language and everyday life, and often carried across time and distance. For many, singing becomes a way of reconnecting with places and experiences that are no longer physically present.

Presented together, One Song creates a shared space of listening. Each voice remains distinct, while common themes of movement, belonging, loss and connection begin to emerge.

Resd more on The Art House website 

One Song was originally commissioned by Counterpoints Arts. This iteration has been supported by Arts Council England and Counterpoints Arts. To view the archive of songs that make up One Song and to read more about work visit https://onesong.co.uk/