Yusef's story is a film made by Laygate Stories, a multimedia project that portrays in their own voices the lives of those living and working on Tyneside in the North-East of England. It is produced by Peter Fryer and David Campbell and is part of an Arts Council England funded commission ('Homelands') organised by the Side Gallery in Newcastle.
As Laygate Stories explain: 'The work is centred on the diverse community along Frederick St and the Laygate area. This is a vibrant area made up of indigenous north-easterners, a long established Yemeni community – who were once migrants but now includes second and third generation British citizens – as well as people from Angola, Bangladesh, the Congo, Iran, Jordan, Palestine, Poland and Somalia.
Through existing contacts and friendships within the community, we are documenting the daily interactions of the different social groups that constitute this community. The work does not profess to be an all encompassing overview of the area but uses short photo-films to give people a platform to express their everyday thoughts, feelings and concerns, and to reflect on their place within the community.'
As Laygate Stories explain: 'The work is centred on the diverse community along Frederick St and the Laygate area. This is a vibrant area made up of indigenous north-easterners, a long established Yemeni community – who were once migrants but now includes second and third generation British citizens – as well as people from Angola, Bangladesh, the Congo, Iran, Jordan, Palestine, Poland and Somalia.
Through existing contacts and friendships within the community, we are documenting the daily interactions of the different social groups that constitute this community. The work does not profess to be an all encompassing overview of the area but uses short photo-films to give people a platform to express their everyday thoughts, feelings and concerns, and to reflect on their place within the community.'
Yusef is a community organiser working with Yemenis in the Laygate area. He was not born locally but his father had links there and he used to come back to visit and moved back when he was older. Reflecting back on his childhood visits he recalled the 'sight and smell of the boarding houses [and] ... the food that was getting cooked, the arab bread, the hobs, the smell of the hakrash, the coffee husks which were spiced, and they made a drink out of it, you know such a sweet and beautiful smell, when you smell these things they bring back fond memories'.
Yusef reflects on how there appears now with the 'big changes' of immigration to still be 'good harmony in the area'. He does have one 'bad memory', of an arson attack on the mosque, when the doors were doused with petrol and set fire to in the days after 9/11. It was 'quite a worrying time. It was the only time I've really felt intimidated, worried, being an Arab. It's the only time I've felt really fearful'. While the film does then weave the local and the global together, Yusef's final thoughts are about his hopes to see South Shields with 'good employment', seeing 'the place as up and coming again'.