1959 Polish card, Polish church in Coventry, 4 February 2011

As one of my photography projects I decided to take photographs of influential Polish people in Coventry. Polish society is very religious so an obvious choice was the priest in the local Polish church. After taking his portrait he gave me the keys to the church. I found a stand with old songbooks and picked a random one, opened it and found a commemorative card from Christmas in 1959. That is when I realised the emigration wave from 2006 is not the only one. Many Polish people came to England after the Second World War in 1945 to find a new, safe home. Since then I met a lot of those incredible people and I’ve heard their amazing but mostly very sad stories. Over half a century old piece of paper has so many different meanings – for me it’s a reminder, for someone else it might be a memory of a coveted calm Christmas.

Many Poles that settled in England after the war were soldiers and pilots that fought for the United Kingdom so it is very unfair when these old immigrants have to suffer because of new immigrants causing trouble today.

Outside the Glasgow School of Art, 2012

Yaya is a Sudanese refugee and British Red Cross volunteer. My work focuses heavily on refugees and asylum seekers, an often overlooked or misunderstood form of immigration into the UK. I spend a lot of time volunteering my time and skills with local organisations and charities in the Leeds and Bradford area, getting to know people, hearing their stories and learning about the asylum system. I work closely with the British Red Cross Refugee Services team, and have recently started to teach asylum seekers a basic photography class.

I feel this image says a lot about Yaya’s character and the way he wants to be seen by the world. He is powerful, he is confident, he has been through so much in his life so far, yet he remains positive and wants to be seen and heard by the UK population.

Children playing among the red brick terraced houses of Beeston in Leeds, 2005

I like this picture as it asks as many questions as it answers, and suggests the way in which second and third generations of migrant communities are creating new identities and navigating new ways of living in Britain, as well as having to overcome significant
obstacles.

“There is no greater sorrow on earth than the loss of one’s native land” – outside the Chinese Embassy, London, March 2013

In 1950 the Chinese invaded Tibet. Many Tibetans escaped across the mountains and found refuge in Europe, India and America. They can never go back to their homeland. 10 March is the Tibetan Uprising Day, marking the events of 1959 when thousands of Tibetans in Tibet protested against the illegal occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China. This uprising led to severe crackdowns within Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s exile into India. On this date thousands of Tibetans and their supporters all over the world commemorate that day and show the People’s Republic of China they can’t stop the resistance movement.