In response to a recent increase in antisemitic and anti-Muslim visual images online and in the media, a new exhibition in London aims to counter hateful content by promoting inclusive narratives about ‘Diversity and Religion’.
Get The Trolls Out! (GTTO) and the University of Westminster’s Diversity & Inclusion Research Community invite you to a free week-long exhibition which explores the theme of ‘Diversity and Religion’ through work by artists from across Europe from 25 February to 2 March 2023 at the University of Westminster’s Regent Street campus.
GTTO and the University of Westminster would love you to join them at their closing night event, which includes a film screening, panel discussion and Q&A, from 6-8 pm on Thursday 2 March 2023 at the historic Regent Street Cinema, a five-minute walk from Oxford Circus tube station.
Tickets are free. Everyone is welcome. Book your place here:
This exhibition brings together emerging and established artists who explore religious diversity in society. Some artworks examine the lived experience of religious minorities, others empower the individual, some imagine a society where multi-cultural communities live in harmony and others reflect on historic discrimination and hate. You can see some examples of the artwork above.
The closing night film screening showcases four films: A Wanderer, Suitcases, Bamba’s Story – Migrant Lives in Pandemic Times, and GURI, providing a platform for underrepresented stories about migration and identity.
A Wanderer is the result of the film maker’s desire to learn more about his Jewish Polish family in Europe that his parents never spoke about. Suitcases uses spoken word from the play Daytime Deewane by Azan Ahmed to explore an act of faith in an ever-shifting landscape of suitcases. Bamba’s Story offers a first-hand glimpse into the life of a Senegalese street seller and singer living in Bilbao, Spain, named Bamba Donde. GURI which translates to ‘house’ or ‘home’ in Somali, features a woman retracing her steps across iconic Liverpool landmarks in traditional Somali attire.
After the screening, a panel discussion, ‘Action Against Hate’, will be moderated by Roza Tsagarousianou who leads the University of Westminster’s Diversity & Inclusion Research Community by developing the University’s research policy in the area of Diversity and Inclusion. The panel will discuss how media narratives, art and politics can play an active role in creating and countering hate speech. Speakers will include Suyin Haynes, Head of Editorial at gal-dem, an award-winning publication dedicated to sharing the perspective of people of colour from marginalised genders, Alex Goldberg, rabbi, Dean of Religious Life and Belief at the University of Surrey and BBC radio broadcaster, and Khadija Said, an illustrator, activist and digital communications specialist working in the refugee sector.
“This year we mark a quarter of a century of working with journalists, civil society activists and academics to create connections and highlight diversity issues in the media. The time has come for us to bring artists to our work. This exhibition aims to show the importance of providing more spaces to start new conversations about diversity in the media and hopes to find more ways to elevate stories from marginalised voices in our communities across Europe,” said Milica Pesic, Executive Director of the Media Diversity Institute.
The event is a collaboration between Get The Trolls Out! (GTTO), a campaign run by the Media Diversity Institute (MDI), and the Diversity & Inclusion Research Community at the University of Westminster (UK). The GTTO project is comprised of eight organisations across Europe, led by MDI, that monitors online and traditional media and responds to incidents of anti-religious hate to stop them from spreading further.
GTTO received a staggering 146 visual artworks and 29 videos submissions from across their seven project countries. The work was judged by a panel of artists, activists and academics working in the fields of art and countering hate-speech.
