Refugee role for church artist

NEWS

Painting of the Bakhsh family, Iain Campbell

THE artist-in-residence at a Glasgow church has been appointed an Affiliate Artist of the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts (RILA).

Iain Campbell was invited to apply for the position, run through Glasgow University, because of his interest in the subject of refugees. This year he has painted the Bakhsh family, who are at the centre of a campaign, led by their local church, to prevent them being deported to Pakistan.

He joins a multinational collection of artists – painters, writers, musicians, filmmakers and photographers – who all work with and reflect on the role of arts and languages in integrating refugees into their new communities.

Iain is the artist-in-residence at St George’s Tron Church and among his previous works are ‘Our Last Supper’, featuring clients of Glasgow City Mission.

He is currently in the final year of a three year project interpreting St Luke’s Gospel through a series of paintings, and has also worked with the Scottish Bible Society, Christian Aid and Tearfund.

He got in touch with Professor Alison Phipps, who holds the UNESCO Chair in RILA at the University of Glasgow, because he is hoping to focus on refugees for his next project. He said: “The idea had been bugging me for a long time, partly because of experiences here with people I’d ended up painting, that a focus on refugees would be very timely.”

Iain, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, believes that art is an effective way of breaking down barriers among people, especially where they don’t have a common language. “I visited Nepal with Tearfund earlier this year, and while we were visiting different groups Tearfund were in partnership with, I’d be sitting and sketching some of the folks telling their stories.

“They were just so tickled that someone was drawing them, it’s something beyond words. There would be big hugs and handshakes when they saw what I’d been up to. I don’t speak a word of Nepalese, but art can go way beyond the language barrier.

“And with the current project I think just getting to know people and know their backgrounds made me realise how essential it is to get some of their stories across to people, to help them understand we are talking about real people’s lives, not just statistics and people who want to come over here and steal our jobs, and all these other pejorative terms people use.”

He also says it has made him reflect on his own background, and a ‘fascinating quirk’ in his family history. “My grandfather on my dad’s side travelled to Canada for work, but was terribly homesick. He didn’t have the money to get home so he stowed away on a ship back to Scotland.

“Any time I’ve told people that story they react really warmly, but it’s very easy to look at stories of people hiding themselves in trucks to get to the UK and view it negatively. I think people just need to see the human being behind the story.”

If funding is secured for the refugees project, Iain is also hoping to work with Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees, and will produce bible study notes and sermon notes to go alongside his art. “I hope to be able to link with churches nationally, to share some of these really positive stories about what’s happening on the ground and to encourage and challenge others.”

This article appears in the November 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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