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The Other Refuge
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival 2026 – Photography exhibition
(In collaboration with the Open Eye Gallery)
The Other Refuge reflects on the notion of belonging through the eclectic perspectives of UK-based artists of Arab origin (from Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) who have experienced displacement. Their work serves as both a celebration of culture and a tribute to their respective communities. The exhibition is an open invitation to explore what ‘home’ means: whether rooted in place and territory, carried through family and cultural heritage, or shaped by memory, movement, and lived geographies.
ARTISTS: Fuad Al-Gaadi, Nasma Aljizawi, Omer Al Tijani
July 16th – August 2nd
Open Eye Gallery Atrium
Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 5pm
LAUNCH & ARTIST TALK
Monday 20th July
Start – 2.00pm
Finish (Estimated) – 4.00pm
MORE INFORMATION ON THE ARTISTS
Fuad Al-Gaadi:
Fuad Al-Gaadi is a photographer and visual storyteller with a background in broadcast and television studies. He is passionate about capturing human experiences and cultural narratives through documentary photography, with a strong focus on emotional storytelling and humanitarian themes.
Fuad previously worked as a media coordinator for a humanitarian organization in Yemen, where he produced and documented human-interest stories aimed at raising awareness and support for people affected by crisis. This experience deeply shaped his visual approach, grounding his work in authenticity, empathy, and real-life narratives.
After relocating to the United Kingdom, Fuad has continued to develop his artistic practice, exploring photography as a medium for connection between people and cultures. His work often focuses on dignity, resilience, and the subtle emotional layers within everyday life.
He is currently based in Liverpool, where he is further developing his creative projects and working towards expanding his photographic exhibitions, including this project “From Lens to Heart”.
Through his lens, Fuad captures not only images but human stories of resilience, hope, and survival. According to him, photography is more than art – it is a responsibility to give voice to the voiceless and to shed light on the untold realities of those who continue to suffer. Al-Gaadi’s work seeks to connect hearts across cultures and to remind the world that even in the darkest times, hope still exists.
Nasma Aljizawi: is a Syrian-British photographer whose work brings together storytelling, culture, and contemporary visual practice. Through her focus on horses as narrative partners, she reflects human emotion and brings to light often overlooked stories. Having navigated her journey to the UK as a refugee, Nasma has drawn on her Master’s education and her passion for equestrianism to create a platform for underrepresented voices.
The Horizon is Hers is a conceptual photography project exploring identity, belonging, and strength through the symbolic relationship between women and horses. Created in the UK with Muslim women riders and horses, the series challenges narrow perceptions of veiled women by portraying them in moments of stillness, power, and self-definition. Within the context of Home, the work reflects on how belonging is not always tied to geography. For many women navigating cultural expectations, migration, or layered identities, home becomes something internal, a place carried within the self rather than a fixed location.
Omer Al Tigani:
Omer Al Tijani is a British–Sudanese food archivist, activist, writer and chef whose work documents and promotes Sudanese culinary tradition, Working from a personal and archival approach, he has spent years collecting recipes, oral histories and photographs to preserve and share the diverse foodways of Sudan with English-speaking audiences.
Up until the recent conflict in a Sudan, Omer was based between London and Khartoum. Al Tijani approaches Sudanese food as a form of cultural storytelling: his materials combine practical recipes with historical context, interviews, regional variations and photography. The project aims to make Sudanese food accessible to both descendants of Sudanese communities living abroad and international food audiences, while serving as a cultural repository for food knowledge at risk from displacement and conflict.
Following the highly successful launch of Omer Al Tijani’s, The Sudanese Kitchen, Almas Art Foundation is pleased to present an exhibition featuring photographs from the book. Honouring the great work of the different photographers who have worked on this long-awaited project, and without who this book would not have the same essence.
About the exhibition partner:
Open Eye Gallery is an independent, not-for-profit photography gallery based in Liverpool. One of the UK’s leading photography spaces, it is the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in the North West of England. A registered charity, Open Eye Gallery believes photography is for everyone and can be meaningful, informing our present and inspiring positive futures. Open Eye Gallery works with people to explore photography’s unique ability to connect, to tell stories, to inquire, to reflect on humanity’s past and present, and to celebrate its diversity and creativity.
Open Eye Gallery is open 10 am – 5 pm, Tuesday to Sunday, 19 Mann Island L3 1BP. Facebook / Instagram: @OpenEyeGallery
