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Brighton hosts Stories of Migration and Protest Comics exhibitions

By John Freeman on May 5, 2025

The Phoenix Arts Space in Brighton is currently host to Stories of Migration, and exhibition celebrating twelve years of innovative storytelling from not-for-profit organisation, PositiveNegatives.

Stories of Migration Runs until 28th May 2025 Phoenix Arts Space, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton, BN2 9NB

PositiveNegatives specialise in transforming academic research into illustrated stories to engage a wider audience, which often involves collaborating with international teams of artists and writers to produce original comics and animations.

The core team includes illustrators Illustrators Majid Adin, Asia Alfasi, Fahmida Azim, Debasmita Dasgupta, Tayo Fatunla, Karrie Fransman, Gabi Froden, Renren Galeno, Diana Garcia, Mia Jose, Wasfa Kamal, Sabba Khan, KuKue, Daniel Locke, Alex Mankiewicz, Pat Masioni, Luke Dye-Montefiore, Diego Mora, Diana Nguyễn, Lindsay Pollock, Madhri Samaranayake, Neeti Shrestha, Maria Surducan, Kruttika Susarla and Hasko Youssef.

The effectiveness of this approach has led to partnerships with prestigious universities across the world, including: the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of Coventry, the University of Sussex, UCL, the Max Planck Institute, Harvard and the Peace Research Institute Oslo, along with organisations such as the United Nations, Open Society Foundations, Nobel Peace Centre, The Guardian and the BBC.

While their portfolio of work spans many topics and global issues, migration has been a recurring theme. This exhibition presents some of the most powerful projects PositiveNegatives has produced, shining a light on issues such as the Sri Lankan conflict and South to South migration and global inequalities.

Drawing from under-heard voices, including migrants themselves, it explores questions such as Why do people move across borders? What are the personal, social and economic forces that shape their decisions? What perils do they face on their journeys, and how can they build a new life in a new country?

“The story of migration never truly ends,” says Founding Director of PositiveNegatives, Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix. “There are always new voices to amplify, new challenges to highlight and new solutions to seek. This exhibition gives visitors the chance to immerse themselves in previous chapters and play a part in our next chapter.”

The exhibition also includes PositiveNegatives’ latest initiative, Animated Learning, which builds on the essence of each project to develop inspiring educational resources for students and educators. Schools will be encouraged to visit the exhibition to engage with the subject matter and help shape the future of Animated Learning.

Myfanwy Tristram’s Protest Comics

If you’re planning to head to Brighton to see this, you may also want to check out Myfanwy Tristram’s Protest Comics, an exhibition running at One Church Reading Room until 28th May.

In 2021, infuriated by the UK’s government’s crackdown on the right to protest in the Police, Crimes and Sentencing Bill, Myfanwy spent the month of October drawing a different protest placard every day. This was the first seed of an 80-page book, Sorry For The Inconvenience, We Are Trying To Save The World, which you can now buy here.

The exhibitiion also an opportunity to see pages from Tristram’s shortlisted First Graphic Novel work in progress, The Noisy Valley, before it is published.

Born in Devon in 1968 and now living in Brighton on the south coast of England, Myfanwy Tristram has drawn comics all my life, fitting her practice around a full time job at a digital democracy NGO; each side of life inspiring and informing the other. Myfanwy is interested in the power of comics to educate, enrage and create change in the world. “As well as the small inequities of everyday life, I tackle global systemic issues,” she says, “always with some humour and the aim of also putting visually appealing artwork into the world.”

• Stories of Migration runs until 28th May 2025 at Phoenix Arts Space, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton, BN2 9NB | Full details here

• Myfanwy Tristram’s Protest Comics runs until 28th May 2025 at One Church Reading Room, Florence Road, Brighton BN1 6DL | Full details here | More about Myfanwy’s Protest Comics Here

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.