Little Queens project reimagined an ancient Moravian ritual connecting rural neighbourhoods to nature and celebrated the role of women, young and old, within their communities. This project gives voice to female refugees and other expatriates who wish to express their identities within the intricate cultural context of their adopted home in the UK.

Little Queens reached out to the diverse communities of Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country, in order to create a safe space for open dialogue about transcultural womanhood and refugee experience. This lively exchange blended tradition with modernity and culminated in the staging of a ritual procession through the town of West Bromwich, offering a glimpse of vibrant Moravian history to the West Midlands.

This multidisciplinary project takes inspiration from the ancient Moravian festival of Královnicky, which is best translated into English as The Little Queens. On the cusp of spring and summer, rural communities used to celebrate their daughters in order to strengthen their own connection with nature and assure a bountiful harvest. Some elements of this ritual have been lost to time, but through a collaborative process the participating communities revisited and restored The Little Queens for a 21st Century audience. Surrounded by their attendants clad in festive raiments, the King and the Queen walked under an ornate canopy and gave blessings to all good people of West Bromwich. The ultimate creation was a richer, more cohesive community, one that can weather the relentless waves of anti-immigration sentiment, misogyny and xenophobia.