Exclusive:The Glasgow places with 'invisible associations' to refugees who have made Scotland home

The film will be shown at Refugee Festival Scotland

They are ordinary places in the city of Glasgow, visited by thousands of people every day.

But now, a Middle Eastern shop in Tradeston, a train ride to the city’s Victoria Road and a cycle path in Glasgow Green are to feature in a new film focusing on the parts of the city which are important to a group of refugees.

Within the Fragments of Gurbet, which is to be shown at the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC)’s Refugee Festival Scotland next week, tells the stories of four immigrants to Glasgow - three of them refugees - and the places which matter to them.

The film maps physical and emotional versions of Glasgow and explores how a place is shaped not just by its streets and shops, but by the feelings and invisible associations of its people.

Fragments of Gurbet will premiere at Refugee Festival Scotland. | Refugee Festival Scotland

Filmmaker Bircan Birol, who is half Turkish, half Kurdish, and has lived in Glasgow since 2019, was inspired to create the work after she visited a shop for the first time that sold authentic Turkish food. She said the shop made her experience what is known in Turkish as “gurbet” – meaning a deep sense of longing, which is difficult to directly translate into English.

“That shop became special to me, like a marker of my version of the city,” said Ms Bircol. “So the idea of mapping became a way to rethink the city, not just as a place we’ve arrived in, but as something we’ve shaped through our emotions, memories, connections and daily routines. What might seem ordinary to one person might hold deep significance for someone else.

“Every corner of this city has a different story depending on who’s standing there. If we look at Glasgow through that lens, maybe we can better understand how migrants like me carve out small pockets of comfort, moments that feel like home in a place that’s still unfamiliar.”

Bircan Birol is the filmmaker behind the project, | Refugee Festival Scotland

Also sharing a version of the city they now call home was refugee Siraj Balubaid, who was born in Yemen, grew up in Saudi Arabia and does award-winning charity work with Bikes for Refugees Scotland. Other experiences are relayed by Fatou Cham Gitteh, from Gambia – a founding trustee of Ubuntu Women’s Shelter who started her university education in Glasgow at the age of 62 - and Shakya Sereinghe, from Sri Lanka, who was a member of southside immigrant support charity Milk.

Ms Bircol said: “One of the main reasons I started making films was because I rarely saw people like me represented in mainstream media and films, so my immigrant experience has shaped both the stories I tell, and how I choose to tell them.

“Living between languages and cultures has made me more aware of what it means to not quite fit in. I try to explore this through film, to sit with big questions, understand them a bit more, or simply feel less alone in them.”

The film is to be shown on the first night of Refugee Festival Scotland at Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts. Tickets are available here.