This exhibition of film and photographs explores the experience of speaking new languages in Scotland today.

Stories of being a New Speaker in Scotland were narrated by Agata Urbanska, Brian Thunder, Daniele Sambo, Hanneke Scott-Van Weil, Leena Nammari, Miren Manias, Nadifa Essa and Nina Bacos who relocated to Scotland from the Basque Country, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Palestine, Poland, Somalia and Sweden. Their stories were developed by Deirdre MacKenna into the New Speaker Studio which is a series of films, images and texts which invite us to stop and think about the challenges and achievements involved when speaking new languages.

Deirdre asked the New Speakers to identify an object which held significance for them as a symbol of their language journeys. These images substitute the archetypal portrait-image of the interviewee in photography and film and encourage us to concentrate on the interviewees’ stories rather than their image.

Milk Café is a Community Interest Company (CIC) initiated specifically to provide opportunities for integration to people who are new to the community. It is a hub for intercultural exchange and support on Victoria Road, Glasgow in one of the most cultural diverse communities in Scotland, operating as both a normal commercial café and providing English language lessons, youth club and other activities.

The New Speaker Studio was commissioned by Bernadette O’Rourke for the EU COST programme The New Speakers Network which comprises members from 28 EU countries to focus upon the dynamics involved in becoming a ‘New Speaker’ in European communities in which globalisation, mobility and transnational networking are transforming how people use languages.

The exhibition is a further development of Cultural Documents’ collaboration with the Refugee Festival in 2016 and 2017.

On Monday 18th June, please join us at ‘On the Border of Art and Teaching in the Multilingual World’, a one day workshop exploring experimental methods of teaching languages to adults and children in multicultural situations.

Funded by: Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) and Cultural Documents.
Partners: The Milk Café, The New Speakers Network, Heriot Watt University, University of Aberdeen, University of Glasgow, University of Dundee,

The exhibition runs until 24th June | open 10.00 – 17.00 | closed Mondays

Wheelchair accessible | no accessible toilet

Image credit:
still image from the installation of
‘New Speaker Stories’ part of the Refugee Festival Scotland at Milk Cafe,
June-Sept 2017
© Cultural Documents and COST New Speakers Network