In Portsmouth we’re lucky to welcome people from all over the world, and even luckier that some decide to stay. Through Our Eyes was a community project where refugees and resettled people were supported to express themselves using poetry and show us Portsmouth from their point of view. As part of Portsmouth City of Sanctuary’s refugee hub people from all over the world wrote a few lines of poetry, some in English, some in their first language, and those lines were stitched together to create a projected poetry anthology. Some cited famous poets such as Saadi Shirazi as their inspiration, others shared proverbs and sayings, and some people just wanted to talk. No matter where they started the aim was the same: to be heard, to be open and to be creative.

Once the lines of poetry had been gathered they were edited together into the anthology and Thomas Buckley used them to create a projection. The poems were then projected onto the side of St Mary’s Church in Fratton. Through Our Eyes was commisioned by Portsmouth Creates as part of We Shine Festival 2022.

Poets: Behnoosh, Maawia, Emma, Nejat, Sofia, Mehji, Andres, Neveah, Ebi, Mohammed

Facilitation and Editing: Ayse Evans

Projection Design: Thomas Buckley

Technical Support: Ben Fletcher

With thanks to Portsmouth Creates, St Mary’s Church and Portsmouth City of Sanctuary.