Women who left Afghanistan to make their home in the county have taken part in a project aimed at engaging communities through education, art, and storytelling.
The initiative is part of Refugee Week, which celebrates the strengths of refugees and asylum seekers, and aims to encourage understanding and positive links with the wider population.
This year’s theme is ‘community as a superpower’.
The project is part of a £25,000 scheme at Harrogate’s Royal Pump Room Museum, made possible through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).
The overarching aim is to connect the museum to communities and encourage visitors to the venue, run by North Yorkshire Council.
Working with Harrogate and Knaresborough District of Sanctuary and artist Amelia Hawk, the Royal Pump Room Museum hosted a series of creative workshops for Afghan women.
All of these women arrived in the country as part of the Government’s Vulnerable Persons and Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.
The six-week project revolves around the idea of coming together and sharing.
Each week, members of the group sat around a large communal table to work on a ‘dastarkhan’ or tablecloth.
Over time, this grew into a striking artwork and record of their time together.
The women also explored clay and glass painting to create other objects that have their place at the table, such as plates, teapots, cups, fruit, and flowers.
Nahid, one of the women, said the project had “a profoundly positive impact”.
Ms Hawk said: “Eating together is a way of bonding in all cultures, it’s an opportunity to learn more about one another, even in the smallest of ways.
“Either way, this is a meeting point, a coming together.”
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for corporate services, Cllr Heather Phillips, said: “North Yorkshire is renowned for the warmth of its welcome and it is right that we open our doors to those fleeing war and persecution.
“Projects such as this help bring communities together and foster greater understanding and I would encourage people to call into the museum and take a look at what has been created in the spirit of togetherness.”
The tablecloth will be on display in the Mercer Art Gallery during Refugee Week and will be used as the centrepiece of a celebratory picnic.
The curator at The Royal Pump Room Museum, Karen Southworth, said: “We’re so pleased that the museum and its stories have been a starting point for such a creative project to welcome newly arrived neighbours and share some of the rich history of their new home.”
For more information about The Royal Pump Room Museum, visit the North Yorkshire Council website at www.northyorks.gov.uk/royal-pump-room.
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