The celebration of the Waiting Rooms exhibition was supported by the visit of the Mayor of St Helens, Councillor Severiano Gomez-Aspron.
Created by socially engaged photographer Abdullrhman Hassona in collaboration with members of Café Laziz, this powerful exhibition explores the rich and complex stories of St Helens residents from 13 different countries.
Hassona, an Egyptian visual artist and educator based in St Helens, uses photography and film to represent diverse cultures and amplify unheard voices.
Through striking portraits and messages in 8 languages, Waiting Rooms captures the everyday spaces where people wait – wait for documents, for decisions, for life to change. These spaces become places of learning, sharing, and skill-building. Until the future arrives, every building is a waiting room.
Emma from Café Laziz said: We are truly honoured to have Hassona in our Café Laziz family. His work highlights everything we are trying to do as an organisation. He is welcoming people from all over the world to St Helens and giving the local community an insight into the lives of asylum seekers, educating who they are and why they are here. The way to true community cohesion is through understanding, and this is exactly what this exhibition does.
