Writing Human Rights in Clay: From Cyrus to the Refugee Convention

Led by artist , this 2-hour participatory workshop invites people of all ages and backgrounds to explore ideas of human rights, displacement, borders, and remembrance through working with clay.

The session will begin with a brief introduction connecting the Cyrus Cylinder (539 BCE), a clay inscription from the Persian Empire often associated with early ideas of humane governance, to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.

Participants will then create clay tiles that may be incorporated into a new artwork by Iman Tajik called The Remembrance Wall / The Wall of Loves, which has been commissioned by Scottish Refugee Council to mark the 75th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention and which will be presented in June in Glasgow as part of Refugee Festival Scotland.

The workshop will provide also an opportunity to reflect on belonging, memory, and refuge today, as participants consider the relevance of the Refugee Convention today.

Iman Tajik is an Iranian artist based in Glasgow. His work is anchored in a strong social interest and demonstrates an effort to make work that is a critical tool connected to international movements for social change. Tajik’s work addresses issues of contemporary conditions of life with a particular focus on migration and globalisation – thereby bridging the gap between art and activism, to create work as a form of socio-political currency, addressing power structures.

Iman’s practice involves photography, moving images, sculpture, installations and performance. Through these various mediums, he ’performs the border’ stressing the right to freedom of Movement and the need to resist barriers and boundaries; including those that create a divide between self and others.

Inspired by personal experiences of crossing geographical borders and socio-political barriers, through his work Iman stresses the need to recognise those social and political barriers that favour of some but not all.

http://www.imantajik.com

Commissioned by Scottish Refugee Council for Refugee Festival Scotland 2026

Hosted by GoMA

Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland

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Host or Publisher Glasgow Museums