Our story began in 2015 when, as a group of friends, we met a man from Iran. While his communication skills were excellent, he shared the need of his friends and wider community that arrived in the UK without English and limited or no access to classes. At that time, we were naïve to the realities of the refugee struggles, in particular the processes for asylum seekers and stateless people.
As qualified English teachers we were challenged to respond to this by offering unofficial English classes in our friend’s home. After a few weeks the classes spread into other rooms in the house. The need was so great we had to make a decision about how to proceed.
We continued to grow, and began providing clothes and basic toiletries through donations. As we engaged more with displaced people, we realised the misconceptions and lack of understanding of the refugee community by those within our local community. We needed a way to build a bridge between the localcommunity and the refugee community. Art would become one of those bridges.
In 2018 we registered our charity, Bridge2, and expanded our projects to include art exhibitions, art workshops, and other skills training. We offered to aid the refugee community in entrepreneurship and assist with finding work. We were leasing space in a building in Toxteth to support our growing needs, and using the top floor of the building as a pop-up art space. But we wanted something more permanent.
In March of 2020, just before lockdown, the purchase of our building was finalized. The pandemic gave us ample time to renovate spaces in the building, and in March of 2021 we began transforming the ground floor into our art gallery and cafe. On the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of July 2021, we welcomed a wonderful crowd of refugees, asylum seekers, and residents from throughout the Liverpool area to celebrate our grand opening art exhibition.
We believe that art transcends cultural barriers and provides a theraputic element that allows for healing, creativity, and inspiration. Gallery 1889 is happy to welcome people from all walks of life to celebrate culture and art. Join us for our latest exhibition.
