About

'Where are you from originally?’ takes its title from a question that is often framed as casual curiosity, yet carries the weight of assumption, belonging, and exclusion.

For many, it is a question that refuses a simple answer. The artists in this exhibition respond not by offering fixed origins, but by revealing identity as layered, shifting, and deeply personal. Here, identity is explored through race, religion, language, memory, and lived experience. Some artists draw on ancestral histories and inherited traditions; others examine migration and the spaces between cultures. Heritage appears not as a single point of origin, but as something negotiated, shaped by family stories, faith practices, and colonial histories.

‘Where are you from originally?’ invites viewers to reflect on how questions of origin are asked, and who is expected to answer them. Who gets to belong without explanation, and who is repeatedly asked to justify their presence? Through textiles, sculpture, photography, moving image, and painting, the artists explore their relationship to this question and its significance to their own identities. 

Curator Domino Panton-Oakley assembles Yorkshire-based artists of mixed global identities, all of which use identity as a theme in their work. Featuring Penny Moe, Saira Baig, and including newly commissioned and never-before-seen work by Shaun Connell, Saba Siddiqui and Zainab Hajab, rather than resolving the question “where are you from originally?”, the artists ask us to listen more closely, to sit with complexity, and to recognise that identity is not a destination but an ongoing process. 

Please also take with you a ‘Where are you from originally?’ zine, developed by artist and facilitator Mussarat Rahman, and designed by Kelvin Chan. The zine includes responses from those who have experienced this question, had their identity questioned, or questioned their own identity. It includes honest responses to the questions and offers new insights into the exploration of identity.