BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:12475@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T000000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261220T000000 DTSTAMP:20261007T214229Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/new-faces-new-focus/ SUMMARY:The World of Glass: New Faces\, New Focus DESCRIPTION:New Faces\, New Focus: Stories We Share is a collaborative tour ing exhibition by Open Eye Gallery\, Armagh\, Banbridge and Craigavon Boro ugh Council\, and Aberdeenshire Museums Service. Exploring themes of jour neys\, identity and belonging\, the exhibition brings together new creativ e work\, museum collections and archives to celebrate the stories of commu nities across Liverpool City Region\, Armagh and Aberdeenshire.\n\nThrough collaboration with socially engaged artists\, community members have refl ected on migration\, heritage and identity\, to play with perceptions of s elf and others and create new connections through storytelling.\n\nWork at the World of Glass has been made in collaboration with the Cafe Laziz com munity in St Helens. People who attend the space – which uses food and l anguage to build bridges between refugees and local residents of the town – have worked with artist Abdullrhman Hassona to tell stories about jour neys\, identity and connection.\n\nSince 2025\, the group has taken part i n regular sessions which created space to hold conversations and express t heir feelings and experiences through art. They learned photography skills \, tried a range of creative activities and visited archives and collectio ns as they developed ideas for the work they made together.\n\nThe core pa rticipants are people who had journeyed from different parts of the world and were now navigating a new life in the UK – many had never engaged wi th art before. Yet the creative space opened something up in them: a memor y\, a longing\, a connection to places and people left behind.\n\nThis pro ject is a celebration of this Cafe Laziz family. Inspired by a visit to th e World of Glass museum in St Helens\, group members started to use object s as a way of discussing identity and memory. First\, they shared items wh ich held meaning for themselves\, later inviting others from the Cafe Lazi z community to do the same and to tell a story linked to their object. Whi le varied in detail\, these have many overlaps\, underscoring the many com mon concerns people have and the value of storytelling as a means to build connection.\n\nThe photographic work that grew from these sessions captur es the objects as their owners hold them – hands visible\, stories prese nt. Alongside each image\, participants speak in their own words about mem ory\, about what it means to carry something that represents who you are a nd what matters most to you.\n\nAbdullrhman Hassona\, Socially Engaged Pho tographer\, St Helens\, said: “What I love the most about the sessions i s how it makes me bring people together and draw out the artistic side tha t’s already there inside them. Many of the people I work with have been through really difficult times and I can see the creative space opens some thing up: a longing\, a memory\, a connection to places and times they’v e left behind.\n\n“The biggest challenge has been the instability that c omes with the asylum system. Most of the participants I work with are sudd enly moved from one place to another with very little notice\, their resid ency is tied to the system. I came up with an idea to start running an ext ra online session to continuous thread of support and connection.”\n\nA special thank you to Anoud Duwairi for supporting the development of this project\, carrying out interviews with many people from Café Laziz and ma king a number of the photos. Other core group members were: Nour\, Omar\, Ulriche\, Mahmoud\, and Zakaria.\n\nKatie Holmes\, Senior Engagement &\ ; Programming Manager\, The World of Glass (St Helens)\, said:\n\n“Story telling is integral to museums and collections\, and local communities all have their own stories to tell\, particularly those who are building live s in a new place. The collections at The World of Glass span thousands of years of global history\, creating opportunities for people to connect the ir own experiences and perspectives with the stories held within each obje ct. Hassona is an exceptional storyteller through his work\, and having pr eviously exhibited his photography\, we are delighted to host another exhi bition of powerful images that are sure to invoke feelings of belonging an d connection that are sure to invite visitors to reflect on the importance of diversity in communities\, and the journeys and stories of their neigh bors\, old and new.”\n\nMore New Faces\, New Focus exhibitions in the Li verpool City Region can be visited at Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool\, 17 Sep tember – 20 December)\, The Atkinson (Sefton\, 17 September – 27 Febru ary)\, and Kirkby Gallery (Knowsley\, 10 September – 20 December).\n\nNe w Faces\, New Focus is part of Going Places\, an Art Fund programme where museums and galleries from all four nations share their collections in the largest collaborative touring project of its kind. Six museum networks sp anning the breadth of the country have been co-creating 12 major touring e xhibitions\, taking the UK’s collections on an epic journey that will re sult in 40 unique exhibitions made with and for local communities. Going P laces is a celebration of UK collections and the people who bring them to life.\n\nGoing Places is an Art Fund programme made possible with major su pport from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Julia Rausing Trust\ , with additional support from a generous group of trusts\, foundations an d individuals.\n\nThe World of Glass is a unique museum\, gallery\, and vi sitor attraction in St Helens that brings the story of glass to life. Thro ugh live demonstrations\, exhibitions\, collections\, and community progra mmes\, we celebrate the people\, skills and innovations that have shaped o ur town and transformed the world through glass.\n\nCafé Laziz is a commu nity business based in St Helens Minster that uses food and language class es to build connections between local people\, refugees and asylum seekers . ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2026/10/DSC07068_Anoud_Low-res-1.jpg CATEGORIES:Exhibitions LOCATION:The World of Glass\, Chalon Way East\, St Helens\, WA10 1BX\, St H elens\, United Kingdom GEO:53.450488;-2.73493 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Chalon Way East\, St Helens \, WA10 1BX\, St Helens\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=The Wo rld of Glass:geo:53.450488,-2.73493 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261025T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR