Saffa Khan: To Gather (2025) 

To Gather was a publication and community arts project facilitated and developed by artist Saffa Khan. Saffa drew on their incredible practice across pottery, facilitation, collecting, illustration, and publishing. 

To Gather was a celebration of safe gathering spaces for those seeking sanctuary in Scotland. It was a tribute to the libraries, community groups, and open spaces where newly arrived communities could gather, be welcomed, and experience imaginative respite. It was also a championing of the incredible cultural enrichment and heritage that those communities brought with them when they arrived in Scotland. 

Five New Scots community groups took part, through a series of multilingual writing and clay-making workshops in Glasgow, Helensburgh, Dumfries, Inverness and Arbroath. The publication was launched at AK Bell Library in Perth and is available online. 

Saffa Khan is an artist and designer with a focused interest in process and play. They create tangible, self-published printed matter and ceramic objects as a means of navigating their feelings, surroundings and field research. They utilise print and design as a space for experimental collaboration and clay as a body to conjure mementoes, inspired by ceremonial ritualism, folklore, mythology and natural found matter. 

Commissioned by Scottish Refugee Council for Refugee Festival Scotland 2025

Presented at AK Bell Library (Perth) 

Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and the National Lottery Heritage Fund 

Image credit: Design by Saffa Khan, featuring photography from the To Gather workshops