Photography project

Home Sweet Home

In the Home Sweet Home photography project women who have sought asylum document their own lives in the UK. Their photographs shine a direct and moving light on lives that are too often unseen and unheard. The exhibition has been shown at Parliament, the Riverside Studios, and many other venues.

The Home Sweet Home Exhibition:

The Passage, by Esther. 'I came here before Christmas, when I was sleeping outside. It is a day centre for homeless people. The lady here, she gave me food and let me have a shower. When you're sleeping outside you don't have a shower. She tells me it's very difficult to fin a place for me to sleep. But in the end she helped me to find a bed in the hostel where I am now.'

Window, by Esther. 'I waited years to get my papers. Buring that time I was often sleeping outside and moving from place to place - sometimes staying in hostels, but other times I was homeless and I slept in churches, on buses. Always moving. Today I live in a hostel and this is hte view from my window. It doesn't look like home to me. I know it is temporary, that soon I will have to move again.'

Food, by Esther. 'This is the food under the sink in my bedroom. Maybe one day I will get my own home and be able to make Congolese food. Not now, not here. I don't have a choice in what I eat. I go to a charity; they give me food for cooking like rice, oil and sugar. Any food I get, I eat'

Fish, by F Y.'In my country everyone buys little red fish to celebrate the New Year in March. They are good luck and protect homes. This year I bought the little blue rocks from the market and the glass for �1. I bought the fish and made a good celebration for the New Year for my son and me. The manager who visits the house saw the fish and she liked them. She told me I need a bigger space for them. I said, 'I have no space for me! How can I have more space for fish?''

Money, by Herlinde. 'I don't have money. I have to live off what the Home Office gives me - the Azure card, which is topped up with �35 each week. That means �5 a day for everything. It is very hard using this card - you cannot use it in most shops, you are not allowed to use it for a bus ticket, for instance, or for a telephone call.'

Light, by Herlinde. 'I live in shared accommodation assigned to me by the government agency. This light has been broken for a long time. Someone was meant to come and change it but they haven't been yet. Since the first day I came here in October last year my bed is broken. The manager said hewould bring another but he didn't. I have asked him until I am tired. I understand now that he will never fix it.'

Hot Water Bottle, by Madeleine. 'It is so expensive to heat the flat and my friend can not afford it. I use a hot water bottle to try to keep myself warm but it is not enough. The flat is in a bad condition but I have no power to make any changes.'

My Things, by Madeleine. 'I do not unpack because I don�t know when I�ll have to leave. My friend lets me stay here but it is not forever'

A Chat, by N Yeman.'Sometimes we stay and talk to our friends in the street. We cannot have them in our house for tea or food like English people. Where will they sit? There is no room! Home for me is my friends. We talk about life, worries and family.'

Waiting, by N Yeman. 'Everyone waiting for the bus was at the drop-in centre to get food. Asylum seekers spend a lot of time on the buses. If home is bad they stay on the bus all day and go around and around. Or at night, if they are homeless, they may stay on the bus all night.'

A Taste of Home, by Evelyne. 'I come to African shops in Dalston where they sell Congolese food which reminds me of home. This is kwanga, which is good to eat on the go and when you have nowhere to cook. I like to come to these shops.'

A Place to Sit, by Evelyne. 'I go to church every Sunday. I pray at St Monica's in Hoxton. THe people here are very welcoming. They give out teas and sometimes they give out clothers. It gives me a place to sit and hope'

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Extract from feature in the Observer about Home Sweet Home by Kate Kellaway:

"Many of the women here are destitute. They have spent months – years, in some cases – on the streets while fighting the British asylum system. I am visiting because of a powerful exhibition of their photographs, called, with an irony that does not need labouring, "Home Sweet Home" – an attempt to capture what "home" means for them in this country. Natasha Walter, who founded the charity after meeting a destitute asylum seeker in London, explains that the original intention was to help women with poor English find an alternative way of communicating about the difficulties of their lives in London – every snap worth a thousand words. The idea was also that, as they went off with their loaned cameras, they might enlighten us – and this is what they have done. On the face of it, the photographs seem no more than a neutral record – but it's this that gives them the force of a protest. The cameras cannot lie. The exhibition turns out to be as much about us and our responsibilities as about them – an unnerving education. It is impossible to look at these images without feeling outraged compassion....”

Press enquiries to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 020 7250 1239

Read more about Home Sweet Home in Parliament

Booking/visiting Home Sweet Home

The Home Sweet Home photography has been exhibited at:

         - Notre Dame Refugee Centre, London
         - Hackney Refugee and Migrant Support Group, London
         - House of Commons, London
         - Riverside Studios, London
         - NUS conference, Liverpool
         - Fem 11 Conference, London
         - Student Action for Refugees Conference, London
         - Launch of Silenced voices speak: strategies for protecting migrant women from violence and
           abuse, by Rights of Women, London (some of the photos are also used in the report)

If you would like to show Home Sweet Home at an event or venue, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ring 020 7250 1239 . Please note that we can provide all the photographs and captions on light, portable foamboard, but we will need you to provide the means of displaying them, such as freestanding panels or walls suitable for displaying pictures.

The Home Sweet Home photography project was produced by Women Asylum Seekers Together London and Women for Refugee Women, with the assistance of Adele Donovan, Hannah Maule-ffinch and Aliya Mirza.

I admire the work carried out by Women for Refugee Women. By telling the true stories of women and children in the asylum process they woke a lot of people up to the scandal of child detention.

Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse

I have been delighted to support Women for Refugee Women since its launch- I've been truly inspired by the great work this organisation does, enabling women who seek asylum to speak out - whether at the grassroots or to government ministers.

Oona King

Many refugees and asylum seekers have fled their home countries because of human rights abuses. The work of agencies like Women for Refugee Women is vital for helping people rebuild their lives and have a voice.

Trevor Phillips OBE, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

Put the word refugee in front of woman and immediately prejudice and projection arise. Meet a refugee woman, hear her struggles – and her joys – and you encounter a person, like you and me, who has been more than unlucky....

....Women for Refugee Women joins the dots, restores our humanity to ourselves and enables women to fight for theirs. Please support them.

Susie Orbach, psychotherapist and author of Bodies and Fat is a Feminist Issue