Refugees in Dudley are celebrated by students at the town's college in new exhibition

An exhibition at Dudley Archives this month is celebrating the contribution to the borough of the refugee community.

An exhibition by Dudley College students on the subject of refugees is on display at The Archives building, Dudley. Pictured with the students are organisers Phil Brooks (front left) and Chris Davies (front right)

An exhibition by Dudley College students on the subject of refugees is on display at The Archives building, Dudley..Dian Diallo is shown next to her portrait..

An exhibition by Dudley College students on the subject of refugees is on display at The Archives building, Dudley Mansoor Suliman, next to the photograph of himself..

Level three photography students at Dudley College have produced a series of portraits of the current refugees, including those from Iraq, Ukraine and Syria.

Phil Brooks, a photography tutor at Dudley College worked with the students to get shots of the subjects, who are currently working and living in Dudley Borough.

DUDLEY COPYRIGHT NATIONAL WORLD PLC TIM THURSFIELD 07/02/24.An exhibition by Dudley College students on the subject of refugees is on display at The Archives building, Dudley..

.An exhibition by Dudley College students on the subject of refugees is on display at The Archives building, Dudley..

Chris Davies, a technician at the college and an artist, produced watercolours of the photographs and students at the college's Inspired Campus in Brierley Hill interviewed them on camera to make a video.

The video, photographs and painting all form part of the exhibition which will be on display at Dudley Archives and Local History Centre in Tipton Road for the next two months.

It was originally commissioned by Baron Ian Austin, who was Dudley North MP until 2019 and now sits in the House of Lords and Castle and Priory Ward Councillor Keiran Casey also worked hard with the artists and staff at the both the college and archives service to set it up.

A grand opening exhibition on Tuesday saw over 100 people attend, including the subjects of the exhibition, students, and staff, councillors and Dudley Mayor Andrea Goddard.

Chris Davies said: "This is one of the biggest exhibitions at the archives we have undertaken and we have worked with language students and people who have come to the borough to make it their permanent home

"It celebrates the story of the refugees from their resilience, their kindness and tremendous presence both from a contemporary and historical point of view – there have been famous mathematicians, hairdressers and others who have made their mark.

Phil Brooks said his contribution of the portraits was part of a UK wide project he was working on celebrating refugees contribution to the country.

He said: "It is very much a multi faceted exhibition with the photographs on display alongside the painting and the video on a continuous loop and if the successful opening night is anything to go by it will be well received by visitors to the archive."

The free exhibition is on display at the Archives and Local History Centre which is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am