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Portraits of Courage is a photography exhibition created by refugees and asylum seekers who call Blackburn with Darwen home. The people so often photographed and spoken about by others stepped behind the camera themselves—capturing one another's portraits and telling their stories of survival, hope, and belonging in their own words.
The project grew out of the creative wellbeing work we run at Kairos Housing. Alongside safe housing and practical support, we offer the guests in our care a creative space to process difficult experiences, rebuild confidence, and reconnect with their own talents. Led by our guests and other local sanctuary seekers, participants learned photography and interviewing skills, and together created twenty striking portraits, each paired with a written and audio recording of the person's story. Shown at Blackburn Cathedral for Refugee Week 2026, the exhibition brought hundreds of visitors face-to-face with the real stories of their neighbours, raised the profile of sanctuary seekers across our town, and offered perspectives from behind the headlines. Explore the gallery and watch the behind-the-scenes film below. |
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Watch our behind-the-scenes film, featuring footage of the interview process and the opening night of the exhibition, alongside interviews with the team behind the project. |
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What's next
The exhibition now lives on permanent display at our Church House home, but its journey is far from over. We're seeking funding to take Portraits of Courage on tour and to develop it into a resource for schools, colleges and community spaces, so that many more people can encounter these stories.
Would you mind taking two minutes to fill out our quick form to help us demonstrate the community backing behind this project?
Would you mind taking two minutes to fill out our quick form to help us demonstrate the community backing behind this project?
Read all about it
Reformed, the magazine of the URC, recently published an article about Portraits of Courage.
Shop
You can take a piece of Portraits of Courage home: our keepsake exhibition book brings together all twenty portraits and stories, with QR codes linking to every audio recording—available now while stocks last—with all proceeds supporting our work of providing sanctuary and rebuilding lives.
Portraits of Courage Exhibition Photo Book
£10.00 - £100.00
Suggested Minimum Donation £10
Portraits of Courage Exhibition Photo Book: See the world through a different lens...
Produced by Kairos Housing, Portraits of Courage brings together twenty stories of survival, hope and community, created for a public exhibition staged at Blackburn Cathedral to mark Refugee Week 2026. The project is a collaborative endeavour with refugees and asylum seekers working together to capture their stories and portraits.
This book serves as a permanent record of their resilience. Every portrait tells a story—use your phone’s camera to scan the interactive QR codes inside and listen to our guests share their journeys of courage in their own words.
Keep it on your coffee table, share it with friends, or gift it to someone who needs a reminder of our shared humanity.
Format: Large Square (210mm x 210mm).
Page Count: 48 pages.
Features: 20 portraits paired with first-person testimonies, interactive audio QR codes and a access to our behind-the-scenes film.
💌 CHOOSE YOUR SUPPORT LEVEL BELOW
100% of the proceeds from every single donation tier go directly to Kairos Housing to protect sanctuary seekers and refugees from extreme exploitation and street homelessness.
All orders will be dispatched via post or can be collected directly from our office base in the grounds of Blackburn Cathedral.
