Iman Tajik: The Remembrance Wall / The Wall of Loves (2026)
The Remembrance Wall / The Wall of Loves was a participatory installation created by artist Iman Tajik with communities across Scotland. Commissioned to mark the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, the work took the form of a dry stone-style wall built from hundreds of clay tiles, which were imprinted with hands.
Dry stone walls represent some of the first visible borders humans created on the land. In this work, the wall became a metaphor: just as stones once marked the beginnings of territorial boundaries, today’s political borders continue to shape lives. By replacing stones with clay handprint tiles, the wall was imagined not as a barrier but as a collective monument built from human presence, touch and solidarity.
Alongside the installation, Tajik presented documentation of his research on the history of the Refugee Convention and how this has shaped Scottish society. This include research on archival photographs of the 1951 Refugee Convention, held in the UN Archives, as well as a video documenting visitor interactions with the painting The Belgian Refugee by Norah Neilson Gray (1882–1931), at Kelvingrove Museum.
The exhibition creates a space of remembrance and questioning, linking human stories of the past with contemporary conversations about displacement and refuge and reminding us that displacement is not limited to one regime, ethnicity or place. History shows that it can happen anywhere.
Iman Tajik is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist and photographer based in Glasgow, Scotland. His work is anchored in a strong social interest and demonstrates an effort to make work that is a critical tool connected to international movements for social change. Tajik’s work addresses issues of contemporary conditions of life with a particular focus on migration and globalisation – thereby bridging the gap between art and activism, to create work as a form of socio-political currency, addressing power structures.
Commissioned by Scottish Refugee Council for Refugee Festival Scotland 2026
Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland
Presented at Civic House (Glasgow)
“Historically, walls have been used to define ownership, territory and boundaries. In this work, the wall becomes a space to reflect on how human-made borders continue to shape lives today.
Each hand in the installation represents a person whose life has been affected or lost because of borders. At the same time, every hand also reminds us that those people were loved by someone. This is why I think of the work as both a remembrance wall and a wall of loves.” Iman Tajik
Photos: Kamila Aitzhanova