I arrived in the UK in 1997 from Kosova.

I was so fortunate to have come to this country at a time when it was so welcoming to refugees like myself. It is incredibly difficult for anyone to leave the comfort of their own home, not by choice, but through desperation and a need for survival.

It has been heart breaking watching recent events unfold with the current migrant crisis across Europe...and for that reason, it has been profoundly difficult to see the stark contracts in attitudes of Britons towards outsiders in this present day...

Traveling with my Art Installation Refugees Welcome truck across the UK last year, I invited the public to come and have a ‘Tea With a Refugee’ inside the truck. This space, provided by the Installation, initiated and inspired a conversation that was and is much needed on the topic.

It created a safe platform for British society and to all who feel at home in the UK, to share their thoughts on the solidarity and welcome of the British People towards refugees, despite what the media might otherwise say. 

This notebook captures the thoughts, feelings and words of these people, post-Brexit...where even to this day ‘Britain is Still Speaking’ ...
 

Credits: 

Directed and Produced by Roberto Duque 

Voiced by Zena Edwards @zena_e_poetics

Performed by Rachel Elderkin @rachel_elderkin , Lydia MacKenzie, Kassi Jameson, Thomas Higginson @thomashigginson, and William John Banks @willdancefash