Exhibition will showcase creativity of refugees

The Welcome Dress features themes from several different countries

An exhibition hosted in Leicester aims to display the creativity of refugees and asylum seekers.

The showcase, called "Everyone Welcome", opened at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in New Walk on Friday and runs until 31 October.

At the centre of the exhibition is a dress created by a women's textile group which meets each week at Leicester City of Sanctuary.

Individual panels on the dress feature symbols that represent the home countries of the women, who are rebuilding their lives in the city.

Leicester City of Sanctuary is a charity that welcomes and supports refugees and asylum seekers in and around the city.

The "Welcome Dress" includes birds and flowers from Kurdistan, elephants from Zimbabwe, the sun, the lion and the sword from Iran, as well as a peacock and pomegranate from Afghanistan.

Britain is also represented through a tree and a hand, as a sign of shelter and a warm welcome respectively.

Maggie Edgington, interim operations lead at the charity, said: “Our volunteers and participants have worked hard on the Welcome Dress and the other items on display and we are delighted to be able to showcase our work at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery this summer.”

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