Ben Uri: Audio Adventures

Michael Armitage was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1984, to a Yorkshireman father and Kikuyu mother, and spent his childhood in East Africa before moving to London in 2000 to study at the Slade School of Fine Art and Royal Academy Schools. Now exhibited internationally and represented by White Cube, he is primarily known for his large-scale figurative works painted on traditional Ugandan lubugo cloth....

Juginder Lamba was born in Nairobi, British Kenya (now Kenya) in 1948. His family moved to England in 1962, after a period in India. In the UK Lamba, a self-taught artist, eventually became involved in arts education initiatives nationally, exhibited his sculpture widely and has participated in several notable survey exhibitions. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU data...

Frank Avray Wilson was born in Vacoas, Mauritius in 1914 to parents of Anglo-Irish and French descent. He attended prep school in England, where he remained for the rest of his life. Abstract Expressionism and Tachisme heavily influenced his work and he participated in the landmark 'Metavisual, Tachiste, Abstract' exhibition at the Redfern Gallery (1957). During the following decades Avray Wilson...

Evan Ifekoya was born in Iperu, Nigeria in 1988, earning a BA in Fine Art New Media from Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton (2010), followed by an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art (2017). Identifying as 'they', Ifekoya examines the politics of culture, society, and aesthetics through various media, including sound, text, video, and performance, spotlig...

Daniel Gbenga Orimoloye was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1966, where he studied and taught painting before immigrating to London with his wife in 1997. Working primarily as a painter, his figurative works of landscapes and human figures explore the transient nature of life and the world. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/dani...

Catherine Anyango Grünewald was born in Nairobi, Kenya into a family of Kenyan and Swedish descent in 1982. She studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central Saint Martins (2001–4) and Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art (2004–6) in London, where she also taught Visual Research between 2006 and 2016. Grünewald's is best known for her drawings examining how emotional and intangibl...

Bhajan Hunjan was born to Indian parents in Nanyuki, British Kenya (now Kenya) in 1956. After arriving to England in 1975 to study Fine Art at the University of Reading, Hunjan both showed at and curated exhibitions, becoming a pioneering advocate for Asian women artists in Britain through the Panchayat collective. Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU database: https://w...

Amanda Holiday was born in Sierra Leone on 28 March 1964 and moved to England aged five, where she was brought up in Wigan. A graduate from Wimbledon School of Art (1987), Holiday is best known for her large-scale, figurative, mixed-media drawings, exemplified by her series 'The Hum of History', a cyclical story about aspirations in the 1980s, realised in charcoal and chalk. An active member withi...

Ben Enwonwu was born in Onitsha, Nigeria in 1917, moving to England in 1944 to take up a scholarship at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He returned to Nigeria after the war but spent the years of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70) in London again, successfully negotiating his practice between the two countries, exhibiting extensively in Nigeria, England, and the USA, until his death in Niger...

Czech Routes features the work of 21 painters, printmakers and sculptors, many of whom fled to Britain as racial and political refugees from National Socialism in the 1930s. These include sculptor Anita Mandl and painter-printmaker Käthe Strenitz, just two of the 669 Kindertransportees rescued by British humanitarian Nicholas Winton. Also represented are works by subsequent generations of Czechos...

Listen to an interview with Harry Heber as he discusses his memories of the Anschluss, fleeing Austria on the Kindertransport and settling in the UK. 

Artist Gerta Regensburger discusses her escape to Belgium on the Kindertransport in 1939, eventually arriving in the UK later that year. Listen to her childhood memories and her reflections on her early career.

Daisy Hoffner - Kindertransport child - reflects on her memories of leaving Germany before the war and her life afterwards.

David Bomberg was one of the great artists of the 20th century, 60 years on from the artist's death and as an exhibition of his work opened at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, Richard Cork explains Bomberg's significance. Presenter: Kirsty Lang.

Art therapists and artists came together with members of the public including refugees to explore the role art can and should play in combating trauma, and the responsibilities of galleries like Ben Uri to help. Panel: Tania Kaczynski and Shan Rixon, art therapists from New Art Studio and practising artist Cedoux Kadima. The event was chaired by Ed Dickenson, Wellbeing Officer at Ben Uri Gallery. 

Ralph reflects on his memories of living in Germany during the Nazi uprising, travelling to the UK and his life afterwards.

Walking from Afghanistan at 17, crossing border in the dead of night, sleeping outdoors in extreme conditions and fearing for his very survival. Listen to Sayed's story.

A lecture by Dr Katie McGown, curator at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury, on the work of Grete Marks, held at the Ben Uri Gallery as part of the  Refugees: The Lives of Others  exhibition.

Artist Estelle Lovatt reviews Ben Uri's Out of the Bloodlands: A Century of Polish Artists to Britain on BBC Radio London. 

Listen to Joanna talk about discovering her Jewish heritage, growing up in Poland in the 1950s and how, and why, she settled in the UK. 

Excerpts from an interview with Alicia Melamed Adams discussing her fascinating life story, how she escaped persecution during her childhood and teens, and her art career. 

Dr Michael Spiro reflects on his childhood in Germany before the war, how his family escaped to the UK and then New Zealand, and how he came to finally settle in London in 1960.

Ben Uri lecture series 2x02

An oral history interview with a German UK resident

MODERN DAY IMMIGRANT: BARBARA, A GERMAN UK RESIDENT