A SUGAR bowl and table mat have gone on display alongside museum treasures as asylum seekers and refugees share their stories of becoming New Scots.
Items from people’s homes have been added to displays at the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow, in the culmination of a year-long project involving more than 30 people.
Some of them selected pieces from Glasgow Museum Collections for inclusion in the New Scots event, which opens on Friday as part of Refugee Festival Scotland. These include musical instruments, footwear and the Ken Currie painting Peace. It was picked out by Syrian teenagers Jalal and Hazan, who connected with the depiction of “the mix of all the different people working together”.
Reema, originally from Kosovo, donated the sugar bowl, which she said shows “the traditional filigree-making skills of the Kosovar Albanians”.
The collection will be on permanent display at the free-to-attend museum’s Scottish Gallery.
Sabir Zazai, chief executive of Scottish Refugee Council, said it will give “people from different backgrounds the chance to get to know each other better, to find out a little about each other’s cultures and to discover the things we have in common”.
Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life, commented: “The diversity of communities throughout Glasgow is one our city’s greatest strengths.
“Our daily lives are enriched with the influence of myriad traditions and cultures.
“Through this display we can share and learn from the stories of refugees and asylum seekers whose personal journeys have brought them to make their homes in Glasgow.
“This is both humbling and inspiring, for all of us who call Glasgow home and for visitors to our city who will be able to understand better the fabric of Glasgow thanks to the New Scots.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here