The Present Past, 2024, part of The Necessity of Seeing collection © Aïda Muluneh courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and Impressions Gallery

Nationhood: Memory and Hope is a new exhibition of powerful and poignant photography celebrating the diversity of the UK today. It is a love letter to all that is good in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and offers a wealth of insights on how we each try and shape both our identities and communities to make the world a better place.

The cornerstone is The Necessity of Seeing, a major new collection of constructed images by the acclaimed Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh. Shot through the artist’s surrealist lens at iconic locations in Glasgow, Bradford, Belfast, and Cardiff, these layered and complex images reveal the overlooked stories, forgotten histories and quiet moments that shape who we are.

First seen on billboards around Bradford in autumn 2024, the exhibition also presents A Portrait of Us, Muluneh’s potent black and white photographs of unsung community heroes from the same four cities.

New photographic portraits by seven rising stars in UK photography explore issues of history, identity, race, gender, and religion.

The exhibition premiered at the launch of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture in January of 2025, then travelled to Belfast and Cardiff. It is the first ever UK City of Culture project to take place in all four nations of the UK.

To find out more please go to the direct link.