London Art Exhibition Explores British Muslim Identity and Europe’s Islamic History

A new art exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s V&A East Storehouse in Stratford, east London, uses large-scale textiles to examine Muslim migration, identity, and xenophobia in contemporary Britain. Titled “I Was Born Here,” the installation by architect and artist Shahed Saleem features three large tapestries displayed beneath a 536-year-old Spanish carved wooden ceiling, linking present-day British Muslim experiences to long-standing European Islamic history.

Examining Anti-Immigrant Policy and Hate Crimes

Commissioned by the museum team in 2024, Saleem spent hundreds of hours crafting the tapestries to reflect east London’s local culture and the museum’s historic architectural holdings. One tapestry, titled “Home Office,” weaves text from the British government’s 2013 “Hostile Environment” immigration policy against patterns inspired by medieval Spain’s Alhambra. The piece reproduces verbatim messaging used on official street signs in diverse neighborhoods, including phrases such as “GO HOME OR FACE ARREST” and “In the UK Illegally?”

A second tapestry features a portrait of Altab Ali, a 24-year-old Bangladeshi textile worker murdered in a racially motivated attack in London in 1978. The artwork combines Ali’s image with depictions of the Santa Maria, the Spanish ship from Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage, and a coat of arms featuring The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, and the Britannia Hotel. Both hotels have been used by the government to lodge asylum seekers. Last July, far-right protesters attempted to storm The Bell Hotel, leading to violent disorder convictions for at least three men earlier this month.

Reflecting Local Community and History

The third tapestry captures daily activity inside Queen’s Market in Newham, a publicly owned market in east London where local residents recently resisted corporate development plans. Saleem explained that the scene highlights the economic, social, and creative contributions of immigrant communities who are frequently affected by restrictive legislation. Visitor Imran Haque, 25, noted that his mother bought fabrics at Queen’s Market after arriving from Bangladesh in the 1970s, describing the exhibition as a tangible representation of British-born Muslims’ place in the country.

Hanging directly above the textiles is the Torrijos ceiling, a carved and gilded wooden structure measuring 6 by 6 metres (20 by 20 feet) that originated from a 15th-century palace in Torrijos, Spain. Historian Tharik Hussain noted that while European institutions have historically preserved and admired Islamic artistic achievements, Muslim and Jewish communities were forcibly exiled, converted, or killed during the Spanish Inquisition following centuries of religious pluralism. Visitors to the exhibit highlighted a similar paradox today, pointing to record sales of Islamic art at London auction houses occurring alongside anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United Kingdom.

Background

The exhibition takes place against a backdrop of political discussions surrounding immigration in the United Kingdom, following recent election wins by the anti-immigrant Reform UK party and far-right civil unrest, including riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The UK government’s “Hostile Environment” initiative, launched in 2013, aimed to make living conditions difficult for undocumented migrants to encourage self-deportation. By presenting modern migration narratives alongside a 15th-century Spanish architectural structure, the installation examines how historical themes of integration, displacement, and ethno-nationalism continue to shape contemporary European society.