Mediabox Ramadan Photography Project

This collection of photographs was taken by young people from the South Asian community in Bristol, to explore the importance of Ramadan.  The photographs were taken during Eid al-Fitr, a celebration making the end of Ramadan where people gather to pray, eat and celebrate together. These photographs provide an insight into this important religious festival.



Photography by Hira Hanif and Osman Hussain

Bristol Celebrates

Last Sunday (21st Nov) at City Academy I went down to Bristol Celebrates festival. It was a great event to celebrate different religions and cultures. I volunteered as a steward for some of the time and I had a great day, it was really inspiring to meet so many different people who want to do positive things across cultural and religious boundaries.

Do you sleep in your hijab?

A group of young people from the Somali Development group had put on their own exhibition about wearing hijabs and I got to try out a hijab style. The girls said they get asked lots of questions by people about why they wear hijabs and decided to make this exhibition to answer these questions. One girl explained to me that she doesn’t always wear hijab, but she feels different when she does. We had a interesting chat about the idea of being modest and how women should be respected. (and in case you’re wondering… no they take them off at home and don’t sleep in them!)

Youth together from different faiths + cultures

Bristol Active Youth Service (BAYS) a youth service run by young people also came along to Bristol Celebrates and had their own display, it was pretty cool to hear about what they are doing. So far they have set up study clubs and youth activities and hope to get their own premises soon. What is amazing about this is it has been set-up by young people from Easton and Eastville for themselves and it has really inspired me about what we as young people can do!

Portents Pictures

We've finally got the pictures through from the Bristol Portents event back in September. Our awesome tent was proudly pitched up on College Green amongst some amazing contributions from other local artists and community organisations.  There were over 11,000 visitors over the nine days to this incredible community art installation.

You can see our pics on our Flickr page here.

Assembly at City Academy

On Tuesday 12th  we headed over to City Academy to deliver an exciting assembly presentation on community activism to inspire AS level students to get involved in the new Mediabox and Inter Act project at their school. The aim was to emphasise the power of community action and how powerful your voice can be. We wanted to inspire young people to take action and speak out about what was most important to them.

The presentation went well and we had several young people sign up with lots of ideas for action projects including a documentary about Islamophobia. We are really looking forward to getting started on this project and can't wait to see what ideas the students come up with.

Mediabox & InterAct: City Academy Visit to Refugee Rights Drop-in Centre

Last week we began the first sessions of our Mediabox and Inter Act project with City Academy. At the start of the week we met with AS level media students who will form the core of the group to introduce ourselves and find out how they would like to be involved.

Welcome Lunch

On Thursday we took 12 of the students to the Bristol Refugee Rights drop in centre for an introductory lunch and a chance to meet some of the young refugees who get support from the centre. Bristol Refugee Rights is a fantastic community organisation that provides a place of welcome for asylum seekers and refugees to meet and get support. They also campaign for human rights and support refugees and asylum seekers to play a full part in the life of the wider community.

Many of the students were a little overwhelmed when we arrived due to the sheer number of people who were there for the lunch. Food was provided by Awaz Utaoh, a local South Asian community organisation, and we were treated to an amazing selection of curries, dhal and rice dishes. When the lunchtime rush was quieting down we sat outside where the students were greeted by many of the refugees and asylum seekers who were keen to answer their questions and welcome them.

The afternoon took a slightly surreal turn when the props for the drama workshop taking place in the afternoon arrived.We were suddenly talking to people in amazing hats, masks and animal head dresses which the students found very amusing. This brightened the atmosphere and helped to put everyone at their ease.

It was a great afternoon and we hope that the students may be inspired to look at refugee and asylum issues for some of their social action project in the next few months.You can check out the rest of the photos from the day on our Flickr page here.

World Peace Day

Today is International World Peace Day, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence where people around the world put down their weapons and join together in the name of peace. Check out this short film from charity Peace One Day to find out how the day came about and why it is so important.



You can find out more about  Peace One Day on their website where you can also pledge your personal commitment to world peace.

www.peaceoneday.org

UNITY at Bristol Portents Event

This month UNITY will be contributing to an exciting event on College Green during September called Portents. It is a community art installation comprising of 50 tents showcasing images from different community groups in Bristol on the themes of Home, Histories and Hope.

The project has been produced by photographer John Easterby in partnership with the Pierian Centre and promises to be a dynamic and interesting exhibition.

We've contributed images for our own tent showcasing some of the work we've done with young people over the past year.

If you'd like to come along the tents will be on College Green from the 18th to the 26th September 2010. For more information check out the BBC news page.