PROJECTS

Development Journey

"Paths of Resilience" was born from a University of the Arts London (UAL) residency at Peckham Levels, where This Place Between Us led storytelling workshops with refugees. These early sessions laid the groundwork for a creative partnership.

To better understand the needs and perspectives of our collaborators, we conducted structured focus groups with 28 refugees from five countries. A powerful 92% of participants stressed the urgent need to challenge misinformation and reclaim how refugee stories are told—highlighting a deep frustration with biased portrayals and a desire to share their own narratives. This validation was instrumental in shaping the direction of the game.

The concept gained momentum through seed funding from BIG Innovation, which secured a collaboration with UAL. This support enabled Dr. Stella Doukianou from UAL's Creative Computing Institute to join the project, working closely with refugee participants to co-design the game framework.

Nicola, Founder of This Place Between Us has worked alongside some of the game’s participants since 2016, when she documented their experiences in refugee camps in Greece. Seven years later, many of these individuals are now thriving as students in Germany, having successfully built new lives. Their journeys—from displacement to resilience—continue to inform and inspire the game’s narrative and direction.

Now in early development, “Paths of Resilience” is co-created with refugee contributors, ensuring that every decision is grounded in real experience. The result is not only an educational tool, but a space of empowerment—one where refugees shape how their stories are told.

The Game Experience

Players navigate the journeys of Palestinian, Syrian/Kurdish, Ukrainian, and Afghan refugees through three critical stages: Fleeing Home, Seeking Safety, and Building a New Life. Through immersive storytelling and meaningful choices, the game challenges stereotypes while highlighting both unique challenges and shared experiences of resilience.

Current Status & Upcoming Events

"Paths of Resilience" has now been signed off as a completed concept.

We are currently preparing a peer-reviewed research paper for conferences, positioning our work as an innovative contribution to interactive media for positive social impact.

We are also currently applying for funding to advance the project to prototype stage, which will allow us to create a playable version of the concept developed by our refugee participants.

Exhibition Announcement

LOST
6–9 May 2025
UAL Gallery, Peckham Levels, London

LOST is inspired by 'Paths of Resilience' and aims to create a visual language of connection through loss.

Intimate drawings translate stories of items left behind by displaced people, alongside stories of everyday losses experienced by friends and visitors. By drawing these lost memories, the exhibition reveals that there is no "refugee"—we have all experienced loss, big and small, and can recognise ourselves in one another through these shared absences.

While the media focuses on transactions—what displaced people "take" and what societies "give"—LOST creates a different exchange. Here, shared experiences of absence build bridges of recognition and empathy.

This is an unfinished conversation… by recognising ourselves in each other's losses, we create new narratives of displacement and resilience—ones not defined by difference, but by our common human experience of carrying the shadows and scars of what once was.