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Aspiration Normanton
Exhibition organised by Surtal Asian Arts and supported by Derby University and Derby Community Safety Partnership.

21 June - 29 July
CUBE café|bar

This is a unique photographic and written word exhibition exploring the diverse places and faces of Normanton and discovering the gems it holds.  Surtal Asian Arts are proud to debut the work of two up-and-coming local artists, Neal Morgan (photographer) and Nisha Nath (creative writer) who, as stranger and friend to Normanton, challenge media representations of the area in capturing brief and beautiful moments in time from an ever changing of cultures, charm and colour.

Modern Normanton has a high ethnic minority population, with the largest concentration of Derby's Asian community. However, since 2002 Normanton has seen a rise of new settlers of refugees and asylum seekers from Eastern Europe, Iraq, Iran, Congo and Afghanistan.  Normanton have the widest variation of individuals from 182 different nationalities speaking 150 different languages which has made the area more interesting and vibrant.  Streets are lively with colourful ethnic shops, businesses and fast food outlets. The level of ethnic diversity has increased.  It’s an area constantly changing, with people moving in, moving up and moving out. 

During the festival times such as Diwali, Eid, Vaishaki and Christmas the place comes alive as streets are decorated with lights, people enjoying, eating, celebrating and rejoicing together in the festivities of different cultures.

However, many people from outside of Normanton still perceive this area in a negative way.  Over the years this area has been associated with drugs, prostitution, unemployment and deprivation.  In spite of regeneration funding being injected into the area over the years, contributing to architectural improvements and revenue schemes, the ‘old image’ still difficult to shrug off! This is hindering progress in terms of ‘economic regeneration’ and ‘tourism’. 

“This photographic project will take on board this negative perception and aim to create an exhibition which portrays the area and people who live around it in a positive way, giving people a real feeling of Normanton being an exciting place to live and visit.  We want as many people as possible to come and see the exhibition” says Gopa Nath, Artistic Director.