Since 2009 and with the support of the Art Fund, the British Museum and the V&A have been assembling an important collection of contemporary photography focusing on the Middle East – the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography.

In 2016, Touchstones was invited to curate an exhibition drawn from this collection. In recent years, Rochdale has become home to a large number of people seeking refuge from countries across the Middle East. In light of this, they invited Global Conversations, a group of refugees who meet on a weekly basis at nearby St. Chad’s Church, to co-curate this exhibition.

Nowruz/New Day presents the results of this unique collaboration, poses a range of critical questions about the collection, and generally asks how the Middle East is presented through the media.

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(Image credit: Abdullah, copyrighted by Len Grant and Global Conversations Group.)