Palace Uncovered

Part 1 - WORKSHOPS

Working with Alexandra Palace’s Creative Learning team to design and run workshops with school students to explore refugee mental health through theatre. The workshops aim to help young people better understand the links between mental health, forced migration, and how we care for refugees. The project focuses on Belgian refugees who fled to Britain during the First World War as some of them were lodged temporarily at the Palace. In these workshops, students are presented with a suitcase of items that Belgian refugees took with them - through these objects they learn about the diverse stories of Belgian refugees and are challenged to create performance pieces that reflect on these themes.

I worked closely with the Creative Learning team to curate and produce interactive elements for these workshops. For instance, students could scan a QR code on the suitcase objects to hear the stories behind each one.

Part 2 - EXHIBITION

The Palace Uncovered exhibition draws on material created with from the workshops with Haringey secondary schools to tell the untold heritage of 1914 Belgian refugees at Ally Pally. This project is made in partnership with Huddersfield University, Manchester University and The Flanders Museum & the London Archives.