Jack Arts

Arts Catalyst: Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

The Sheffield-based visual arts organisation, Arts Catalyst, is on a mission to collaborate with artists, activists and people to create spaces for us all to interrogate the world using art to see what new things we might learn. One such collaboration is with designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad which birthed Co-Hostings – a project by Hashemi-Nezhad developed with over 40 refugees and asylum seekers at City of Sanctuary Sheffield.

The conversations Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad had with the refugees and asylum seekers during English classes at City of Sanctuary Sheffield has now led to the creation of the Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover – an English Language exercise book by Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad that’s translated into Arabic, Kurdish, Tigriniya, Amharic, Spanish, Ukrainian and Farsi.

Commissioned by Arts Catalyst as part of Co-Hostings, Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover not only contains beautiful illustrations by Danielle Rhoda – which capture the essence of the conversations Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad had with the participants – but it is also free for any UK based groups or organisations that host English as a Second Language classes for people seeking sanctuary.

JACK ARTS teamed up with Arts Catalyst to display some of these striking illustrations across the streets of Sheffield through a city-wide poster campaign, inviting passersby to a wonderful multi-lingual exchange of hope, strength, and perseverance.