ENCOUNTERS is a site-specific installation developed by Kingston School of Art’s MArch Architecture students in collaboration with MA Photography students, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration rooted in circular economy principles and reuse strategies. Featuring photographic and moving image works, the exhibition responds to the themes of migration, refuge, and displacement.
The exhibition is running from 16 to 22 June, 11am – 4pm each day, at Yorkton Workshops.
Alongside the exhibition, a panel discussion will explore cultural production and research practices related to migration, displacement, and social justice. These conversations aim to deepen engagement with the themes at the heart of the project.
The panel discussion will be led by Dr Maria Mencia, an artist-researcher in media arts and digital poetics, codirector of the research group Sound/Image/Media/ Encounters (SIME) and postgraduate coordinator at Kingston School of Art. Guest speakers will include Dr Amak Mahmoodian, a multidisciplinary artist and educator, Kate Watson, visual artist, researcher and educator, Liz Hingley, artist and anthropologist and Edwin Mingard, visual artist working principally with moving image.
The panel will take place on Thursday 19 June 2025 from 3 to 6pm. Reserve your free place here. Spaces are limited.
There will also be a Private Viewing on Thursday 19 June 2025, from 6.30-9pm.
This project is created in partnership with Refugee Week (the world’s largest arts & culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary), Counterpoints (a leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change) and Yorkton Workshops (home to award-winning design studio Pearson Lloyd).
The Project:
Encounters began as a live brief module for MA Photography students, developed in partnership with Refugee Week and Counterpoints Arts. The students were invited to respond to a brief set by the Refugee Week team and independently devise projects that explore the themes of migration and displacement. For many, this marked their first direct engagement with refugee experiences and the complexities surrounding displacement.
Tackling such a profound and challenging subject matter has proven to be both a demanding and deeply rewarding journey. It was a process of learning, and in many cases, of unlearning: questioning assumptions, cultivating empathy, and discovering new ways of seeing. This exhibition presents a diverse range of creative responses, reflecting not only on the realities of displacement, but also on the process of coming to understand those realities.
The final installation emerged from yet another meaningful Encounter – this time with 17 exceptionally talented MArch Architecture students. Volunteering their time, they collaborated with MA Photography students to create a site-specific installation that responds to the themes of displacement and refuge. Their design is grounded in circular economy principles, bringing a sense of lightness/ transience and a commitment to adaptability, reuse and sustainability.
This exhibition is, above all, a reflection of all these Encounters – between disciplines, between people, and between perspectives. It seeks to convey the insights and growth our students have experienced as they engaged with this vital and urgent topic.
Participating Artists:
Anchen Li, Anna Jannepalli, Tommy Pai, Edith Robinson, Eghbal Raoufifard, Jaewoo Lee, Jay Lin, Justin Pappoe, Meng Zhang, Jingyao Yan, Rui Zheng, Shubham Kakade, Tilan Xue, Zixin Luo, Tom Cai, Yang Tonge, with Nana Varveropoulou as MA Photography module leader.
Rify Hossain, Chelsea Richards, Cam Heslop, Priyanshi Dhanrajbhai Jain, Pete Goding, Alice Parker, Azsvina Ragunathan, Eadan Filbrandt, Babitha Ravi Kumar, Telma Ferraris, Rama Shetty, Rio Jablonski, Ian Karuhanga, Berfin Tas, Valerie Wan, Shadi Rashedi, Anisha Iqbal, Rajan Savaliya, with Aoife Donnelly as MArch Architecture Lead.
