Refugee Week 2026: Stories of Sanctuary, Creativity and Connection at UAL Library Services
- Written byRowan Williamson
- Published date 15 June 2026
Each June, Refugee Week offers a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the resilience, creativity, and contributions of people seeking sanctuary. In 2026, Library Services marks the occasion by launching our new Library Sanctuary Guide spotlighting a rich and thought-provoking range of collections that invite us to engage more deeply with stories of displacement, identity, and belonging.
At UAL, libraries are not just places to study, they are spaces where global narratives meet personal experience, where creative practice intersects with social awareness. This Refugee Week, the collections across our libraries offer a powerful reminder: stories matter, and access to them matters even more.
Reading Across Borders
UAL’s library collections hold a diverse array of books, films, journals, and digital resources that explore themes of migration, exile, and sanctuary. From artist monographs to critical theory, and from documentary film to graphic storytelling, these materials open up multiple ways of understanding refugee experiences.
In line with UAL’s creative focus, many of these works centre on artistic responses to displacement. Artists who have experienced migration often use visual language to express what words cannot. They capture memory, trauma, identity, and hope. Through photography, illustration, performance, and design, these works challenge dominant narratives and foreground lived experience.
Whether you encounter a photo-essay documenting journeys across borders or a zine from one of our special collections, these materials encourage readers to connect with human stories.
Creative Practice as Testimony
One of the most compelling aspects of UAL’s collections is how they foreground creative practice as a form of testimony. For many refugees and displaced artists, making art is not only a means of expression but also a way of reclaiming voice and agency.
Library resources highlight projects where art becomes activism, and where exhibitions, publications, and collaborative works create space for dialogue and visibility. These might include:
- Artist books that blend personal narrative with visual experimentation
- Films documenting journeys of migration or resettlement experiences
- Research on socially engaged art practices working alongside refugee communities
For students and researchers, these materials are both a source of inspiration and a call to think critically about the role of creativity in shaping more inclusive futures.
Global Perspectives, Local Impact
UAL’s Library Services reflect the international nature of its student body. The collections include materials that span continents and cultures, offering perspectives from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and beyond.
This global scope is essential in understanding refugee experiences not as a single narrative, but as a complex and varied set of journeys. A memoir from Syria may sit alongside a photographic study of migration routes in the Mediterranean, or research into diasporic identity in contemporary art practice.
At the same time, these global perspectives resonate locally. Many of the themes explore belonging, community, home, and speak directly to life in London, a city shaped by migration and diversity. The library becomes a space where global stories connect with everyday reality.
Discover, Reflect, Engage
To mark Refugee Week 2026, UAL libraries are curating displays that bring these resources into focus, making it easier for students and staff to explore the collections. These curated selections invite discovery, whether you are beginning to learn about refugee experiences or looking to deepen your understanding through creative practice.
Engaging with these materials can take many forms:
- Browsing a themed display in your library
- Exploring digital resources and films online
- Reflecting on how creative practice can respond to issues of displacement and justice
Libraries as Places of Welcome
Refugee Week is about creating a culture of welcome. UAL Library Services embodies this by offering inclusive spaces, diverse collections, and opportunities for connection.
The library is a space where stories can be discovered, shared, and held with care. Through its collections, it becomes a place not only of learning, but of empathy.
This Refugee Week, we invite you to explore, reflect, and engage with the materials available across UAL libraries. In doing so, you’ll encounter not only stories of challenge and resilience, but also powerful expressions of creativity and hope.
The new Sanctuary LibGuide is still in development and we welcome contributions and ideas for this curated guide from UAL staff and students. please contact us with any suggestions for titles; books and resources that you think might be helpful!
