What We Carry is a new co-curated exhibition developed through a creative partnership between HMS Unicorn and Bring Together, working alongside members of the Ukrainians Together community.
The exhibition has grown from a meaningful collaboration that began in 2024, when Bring Together and HMS Unicorn came together to offer welcome, cultural exchange, and supportive learning opportunities for families displaced by conflict. Bring Together is a Scotland-based social enterprise that works with displaced communities to transform experiences of displacement into opportunities for resilience, connection, shared learning, and cultural exchange.
Early activity within the partnership focused on building confidence, supporting language development, and introducing participants to museums and heritage spaces across Tayside, helping to foster a sense of belonging and familiarity with cultural institutions.
In 2025, the partnership entered a new phase with the development of What We Carry. The exhibition was created collaboratively with the Ukrainians Together community and facilitated by HMS Unicorn staff, working closely with Vitalii Diakov and Hanna Dushova, co-founders of Bring Together. This community-led approach has been central to shaping the project, ensuring the exhibition developed as a safe and welcoming space for dialogue, creativity, and shared learning. Throughout the process, care, trust, and collaboration were embedded in every stage of development.
Through a series of creative workshops, participants explored what we carry with us during times of transition — emotionally, physically, and symbolically. These reflections took shape through creative making, personal storytelling, and shared discussion, forming the foundations of the exhibition.
Rather than presenting a single narrative, What We Carry has been shaped through dialogue and collective thinking. Community voices sit at its centre, with HMS Unicorn acting as a facilitator, creating space for cultural exchange, multiple perspectives, and a growing sense of collective belonging.
HMS Unicorn would like to thank Museums Galleries Scotland for supporting this project through the Delivering Change Fund, as well as Vitalii and Hanna from Bring Together, and all participants whose generosity, creativity, and openness made the exhibition possible.
