Nationhood: Memory and Hope
18th October 2025 - 25th January 2026*
Exhibition Walk & Talk and Reception:
2 - 5pm Saturday 1st November 2025
Free and all welcome
Nationhood: Memory and Hope is a new exhibition of powerful and poignant photography celebrating the diversity of the UK today. It is a love letter to all that is good in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and offers a wealth of insights on how we each try and shape both our identities and communities to make the world a better place.
The cornerstone is The Necessity of Seeing, a major new collection of constructed images by the acclaimed Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh. Shot through the artist’s surrealist lens at iconic locations in Glasgow, Bradford, Belfast, and Cardiff, these layered and complex images reveal the overlooked stories, forgotten histories and quiet moments that shape who we are.
First seen on billboards around Bradford in autumn 2024, the exhibition also presents A Portrait of Us, Muluneh’s potent black and white photographs of unsung community heroes from the same four cities.
New photographic portraits by seven rising stars in UK photography explore issues of history, identity, race, gender, and religion.
Miriam Ali spotlights grassroots activists from community organisations in Glasgow, while the photographs of Haneen Hadiy view the beauty of Scottish landscapes through the lens of Islamic symbolism. Shaun Connell pays tribute to his Jamaican mother and Christian faith believers in Bradford, while fellow Bradford photographer Roz Doherty captures both the energy and uncertainty of youth in a new set of studio portraits. Chad Alexander explores the transformation of the Tropicana in Dungannon, from an Irish National Foresters club into a vibrant multicultural community hub. Robin Chaddah-Duke reunites 1970s stalwarts of The Parade Community Education Centre in Cardiff to recreate a group portrait, and Grace Springer showcases the vibrancy of community game changers from the city’s African and Caribbean diasporas.
The exhibition premiered at the launch of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture in January of 2025, then travelled to Belfast and Cardiff. It is the first ever UK City of Culture project to take place in all four nations of the UK.
A Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and Impressions Gallery commission in partnership with Belfast Exposed, Ffotogallery, Cardiff and Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow. Curated by Anne McNeill.
*Please note the exhibition will be closed from 22nd December 2025 – 5th January 2026 inclusive, reopening on Tuesday 6th January
Banner Image: Reflections of the Seeker, 2024, part of The Necessity of Seeing collection © Aïda Muluneh courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and Impressions Gallery
Left Image: The Present Past, 2024, part of The Necessity of Seeing collection © Aïda Muluneh courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and Impressions Gallery
