Home Making

^{Image Credit: Ai Narapol}

_{An exhibition by artists Sahra Hersi and Sofia Niazi, with Rajo}_{Commissioned by: Arts Catalyst}

How do we make home in different places? And how is that knowledge carried and shared from our rooms to our cities, across borders, and through generations?

For me, Home Making is a way of looking at how making, play, learning, and cooperation can become tools for belonging, purpose, and even rest, especially in times of change or uncertainty.

Commissioned by Arts Catalyst, the exhibition began with Housewarming, a series of workshops I designed with Sofia Niazi, in conversation with a group of women connected to Andalus Community Centre. Some had recently arrived in the UK; others had long been part of the community. In time, they came together and named themselves Rajo, the Somali word for hope.

Those workshops created more than objects. They created a space, one where gathering, talking, and making together became its own form of collective homemaking. Not through bricks and mortar, but through gestures of warmth, kinship, and creativity.

The exhibition brings these processes into view. On display are handmade doormats crafted by the Rajo group, alongside a large-scale textile by Sofia. My ceramic tile works draw on the symbols of openness, collaboration, and solidarity explored in the workshops. Nearby sit plates painted by the women: pieces that hold memories, motifs, and fragments of places lived and imagined, shared in the process of getting to know one another.

Home Making also acknowledges the essential work of community organisations like Andalus Community Centre, whose support, friendship, and solidarity form the foundations of home for so many.

^{Housewarming’ Lino Printing Workshop (2025), Sahra Hersi. Image Credit: Ella Barrett}

Andalus Community Centre is a Sheffield-based charity and advice bureau supporting asylum seekers and recent migrants to access local services. Their work includes job assistance, family counselling, translation and interpretation, and creating opportunities for social connection.

Fabricators: Nelson and Woodward

^{Home Making is generously supported by Arts Council England, Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust, JG Graves Charitable Trust, and Sheffield City Council (as part of Castlegate Festival 2025).}