Celebrating our temporary exhibition at St George’s

Fr Richard with exhibition visitors on opening day

Today, our temporary exhibition at Saint George-in-the-East church came to an end. Journeys of the Parish: People, Migration and Belonging launched on April 23rd. It focused on the church’s many baptismal records of African, Caribbean, Asian and Indigenous descent, and included stunning artworks by community members. St George’s Day, and in particular the flag, has in recent years been harnessed for right-wing messaging around what it means to be British and belong in Britain. our exhibition felt like a beautiful counter-argument: that migration is a multi-faceted and deeply human experience, one that enriches both the migrant and the community that welcomes them.

We celebrated with food and a bief panel, on which I got to share some of these thoughts. My co-panellists were some of the members of the congregation who contributed immensely to the exhibition with their own stories of belonging. I really appreciated the opportunity for such hands-on practical experience ideating, planning, researching and executing a project like this. I’m newly appreciative of curators (and people who have guillotine trimmers in their basement). A massive thank you goes out to the team at St George’s, especially Fr Richard Springer, Jon Hart and Davina Bacon.

The MBL team (left to right): Jamie, Odile, Olly, Libby, Kaylee and Lehna

On the panel, moderated by Jon Hart (left)