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BIRMINGHAM CELEBRATES: CULTURE

April – August 2022

Words: Chekii Harling
To honour the Commonwealth Games (also known as Birmingham 2022), we collaborated with local communities on an exciting arts and events programme.

BIRMINGHAM CELEBRATES: CULTURE

April – August 2022

Words: Chekii Harling

To honour the Commonwealth Games (also known as Birmingham 2022), we collaborated with local communities on an exciting arts and events programme.

Our Commonwealth Games arts and events programme shined a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene. From craft workshops in our Birmingham store in April, to the Healing Gardens of Bab exhibition in June – each of our events brought the unique spirit of the games to life.

 

August saw us open a line-up of fun installations in our Birmingham store, with everything from an old-school gaming arcade to a Selfridges-themed photobooth. Our in-store restaurants also created special menus from around the world, and you could buy the official Commonwealth Games merch in preparation for the big event.

REASONS TO VISIT SELFRIDGES BIRMINGHAM

Don’t miss a visit to our iconic Birmingham store.

Dine at our restaurants

Enjoy a memorable experience at one of our in-store restaurants. From Italian fine dining at our restaurant and Champagne bar on 4, to traditional Greek cuisine at Kouzina on 1 – we can’t wait to see you.

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Immerse yourself in the biggest beauty hall in the Midlands

Discover the best in beauty, with plenty of Selfridges exclusives and the latest drops from brands including Gucci Beauty and Charlotte Tilbury. Looking for tips or advice? You can book everything from make-up to hair and skincare appointments with our experts.

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Discover Project Earth

We want to give you as many ways to shop as responsibly as possible – without losing any of that familiar Selfridges sparkle. Come and refill your favourite beauty products, rent an outfit for a special occasion, buy pre-loved fashion, or repair your most-treasured items.

Discover Project Earth

Explore the best in contemporary fashion

Discover our personal shopping services, up-and-coming designers, and luxury brands all at our Birmingham store. Enjoy exclusive access in the Midlands area to Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Christian Louboutin.

EXPLORE OUR PAST EVENTS

THE CREATIVE PLAYGROUND AT SELFRIDGES BIRMINGHAM

We transformed our Selfridges Birmingham store with interactive installations, from destination play on 1 to an old-school gaming arcade on 2, plus a Selfridges-themed photo booth on 3.
Key to the City 

KEY TO THE CITY

The brainchild of artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, Key to the City is a public art project that was first started in New York in 2010. The initiative offers unique access exciting, unusual and hidden locations in urban spaces. This year, Key to the City came to Birmingham – and Selfridges took part.

 

Key to the City invited you to discover 22 intriguing places across Birmingham, from private gardens to underground tunnels, and even a locked museum drawer. Whether you were exploring the city for the first time, or wanted to gain a new perspective on the place you know and love – Key to the City was a fun way to see Birmingham in a new light.

Hand-crafted gifts made using local, upcycled materials 

4,600 Gifts hosted by Craftspace at Selfridges Birmingham

To greet the Commonwealth Games’ athletes to the city, Birmingham residents were invited to create a unique hand-embellished gift in our store. The Craftspace workshops were hosted by a team of product designers, artists and makers, including Pottinger + Cole, Laura Nyahuye, Mahawa Keita and Kalandra McFarquhar – all of whom are based in the West Midlands.

 

“The idea was to rethink Birmingham as the workshop of the world. We demonstrated that craft can be a powerful tool for bringing people together to share skills and stories, and to create a personal gift for another person, a visitor to our city,” says Deirdre Figueiredo, Director of Craftspace.

THE EXHIBITION: Healing Gardens of Bab at Selfridges Birmingham

We teamed up with Fierce, Birmingham’s most daring contemporary arts festival, to showcase a special exhibition that celebrated queer creativity in all its forms. Fierce’s Artistic Director, Aaron Wright, shares his highlights.

Tell us about Healing Garden of Bab…

Healing, joyous vibes! We created a fun programme of mini exhibitions, workshops, talks, DJs, performances and art – and it was all free! Visitors could also get involved in garden-inspired workshops, such as botanical drawing and pickling vegetables.

 

What were the key themes?

The performances, events and artworks celebrated alternative expressions of gender and sexuality with artists and collectives from across the Commonwealth.

 

Gardens are often thought of as natural spaces, but they’re actually incredibly artificial. This was the jumping-off point for the programme. We wanted to imagine a healing future, where we live more harmoniously with nature, in fake, real, mythic, actual, imaginary, big gay gardens!


Our programme of performances, events and artworks celebrated alternative expressions of gender and sexuality with artists and collectives from across the Commonwealth.

– Aaron Wright (Artistic Director, Fierce)

Artwork by Mazahir Hussain
How did you select the artists for the show?

We worked with a group of young LGBTQIA+ creatives in Birmingham, who helped us select the artists for the Healing Gardens of Bab. We chatted to creatives in Canada, Ghana, Australia and South Africa, and came up with a brilliant line-up of artists with varied global perspectives.

 

Who were some of the key artists?

We were thrilled to commission local queer artist Girth of Venus, aka Mazahir Hussain. He was responsible for the Healing Gardens of Bab artwork (above). We also worked with acclaimed photographers Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh. We teamed them up with members of the Journey Asylum Seekers Group – many of whom have had to leave home because of their alternative gender and sexuality. Sunil is particularly well-known for creating queer portraits that are inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites. It made sense to bring them to Birmingham, as Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has the biggest collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings in the world.

 

What do you hope visitors took away from the show?

We hope that people came to understand that many sexual identities are simply not translatable into English, and that there are countless expressions of gender and sexuality all around the world. Hijra and Kothi communities in India and Sistergirl/Brotherboy in Queensland Aboriginal, for example. I hope they also discovered some new artists that they really liked, too.

What else is in store at Birmingham?

Click below for more exclusive pop-ups and specially curated events and experiences…

Find out more

The playlist: Birmingham Bangers

Selected by Selfridges Birmingham team members