Miriam Ali Letting Glasgow Flourish (2024) Nadia “Nadia is an artist and co-founder of Rumpus Room, a youth led project space focused on social action. Rumpus Room also run an open studio for anyone to come in and use the space and facilities for a couple of hours a week. I wanted to feature Nadia in this project as she has been a really great and supportive person when it comes to offering opportunities within Rumpus Room, whether that is taking photos for events, writing for the online blog or offering further training within the space. I photographed Nadia in the Rumpus Room Yard which hosts many outdoor workshops, exhibitions, pot lucks and gardening club.”
Tabassum Tabassum is a community worker and the co-founder and director of Bowling Green Together, which is a dedicated green space located in the heart of Pollokshields, a predominantly South Asian area of Glasgow. The space often hosts fundraisers, cultural events and family play sessions which are open to the whole community. I have photographed Tabassum multiple times in Bowling Green for other projects, only this time it was to capture the presence that she, and the space hold within the community. Both Syma and Tabassum were also community engagement officers for the Tape Letters Scotland project, which is how I first met them as the project photographer. The nature of networking within the grassroots organisations in Glasgow, is that you’re never too far from running into people you know. The connections of the people I photographed are not limited to this project. Hussein and Maya are great friends who first met when they were asked by Nadia to host workshops at Rumpus Room, and just down the road is where the Greater Govanhill Community Newsroom is located. Tabassum and Syma knew each other from their high school days and have since gathered a vast amount of knowledge of their community which help instruct their projects to this day. Tabassum’s Bowling Green is also utilised for the Rumpus Room ‘Romp Around’ free family play days.