New work from acclaimed Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh and seven UK photographers feature in this major exhibition at Impressions Gallery.

Nationhood: Memory and Hope is an outstanding collection of new photography celebrating the diversity of the UK in 2025. Curated by Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery, it opens during the launch weekend of Bradford 2025 – helping to kick off the year as UK City of Culture.

Nationhood: Memory and Hope offers a wealth of insights into the UK’s four nations today, exploring how we each try to shape our identities and communities to make the world a better place.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is The Necessity of Seeing, a major new collection of constructed images by Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh. Shot through the photographer’s surrealist lens at iconic locations in Bradford, Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow, Muluneh’s new work reveals 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.

Nationhood: Memory and Hope also showcases striking new portraits by seven rising stars in UK photography:

• Shaun Connell pays tribute both to his Jamaican mother and the Windrush Generation, while fellow Bradford photographer Roz Doherty captures both the energy and uncertainty of youth in a new set of studio portraits.
• Chad Alexander explores the transformation of the Tropicana Club in Dungannon, from an Irish National Foresters’ club into a vibrant multicultural community hub.
• Robin Chaddah-Duke reunites 1970s stalwarts of Cardiff’s Parade Community Education Centre to recreate a group portrait, while Grace Springer captures community leaders from the city’s African and Caribbean diasporas.
• Miriam Ali spotlights grassroots workers from community organisations in Glasgow, while the photographs of Haneen Hadiy view the beauty of Scottish landscapes through the lens of Islamic symbolism.

Nationhood: Memory and Hope opens at Impressions Gallery before travelling to Belfast Exposed, Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow, and Ffotogallery in Cardiff – making this the first ever UK City of Culture project to take place in all four nations of the UK.

A Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and Impressions Gallery commission in partnership with Belfast Exposed, Ffotogallery, Cardiff and Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow.