Pilot in Manchester – UK

PHM’s pilot project will explore the impact of Brexit on migrant communities in the UK. The EU referendum split the country and saw instances of racism and xenophobia increase. EU migrants face uncertainty over their futures here, whilst many in the UK population blame excessive migration for economic problems. One week before the referendum, MP Jo Cox was murdered by Thomas Mair, a man associated with far-right organisations. Cox was a passionate advocate for multiculturalism, and campaigned for the rights of refugees. She stated in her maiden speech to Parliament that ‘we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us’.

In 2017 PHM acquired the Jo Cox Memorial Wall on which hundreds of people left written tributes. Our pilot project will mark the fourth anniversary of Cox’s death in 2020. In the lead up to the anniversary, we will work with local migrant and non-migrant communities to explore how they have ‘more in common’. The project will result in a co-produced artistic response to the Memorial Wall, and an online exhibition of crowdsourced responses from the UK and internationally. By 2021, the UK should have exited the EU. In this unpredictable environment, this project will create a mutual understanding of migrants’ stories and build bridges in a fractured landscape.