LIBRARIES across the borough are celebrating national Refugee Week with a unique art project led by local artists and people from the refugee, asylum seeker and resettlement communities.

Refugee Week takes place across the world in the week on World Refugee Day on June 30 and aims to raise awareness of the experience of refugees and asylum seekers.

In the UK this is marked with a collection of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the country, encourage successful integration, and enable refugees to live in safety.

In St Helens, visitors to Moss Bank Library will have the opportunity to see the result of a unique art project led by artists Claire Weetman and Rebecca Ainsworth.

The project, which began last summer, saw people from St Helens’ refugee, asylum seeker and resettlement communities explore and interpret St Helens’ Local History and Archives, gaining insight into the place they now live.

A photographic exhibition of the creative, multi-layered artwork that came from the project will be on display in Moss Bank Library until Tuesday, June 25, and is free to view.

The original artwork is on display at the drop-in café at Pocket Nook Technology Campus, run by the charity ‘Our Warm Welcome’.

The original artwork contains many drawers where new photographs and items can be added as refugees arrive, pass through, or settle in St Helens, further enriching the exhibit.

St Helens Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, Leisure and Libraries, Anthony Burns, said: “It has been our privilege in St Helens to welcome refugees and asylum seekers to the borough.

"This library project has created truly inspiring ways of working with the people who settle here, encouraging integration, greater understanding between our communities and showcasing the talent and creativity that refugees have brought to St Helens and the UK.

"Come along and see the results for yourself.”