motiroti is an award-winning arts organisation that works across continents and cultures. Our content is migration, our form is art. We collaborate with communities experiencing migration and help them to tell their stories across artistic platforms, including film, performance, installation and digital. We put participation at the heart of our work.

Current Staff

Elena Dell'Acqua Projects Assistant

Tim Jones Executive Director

Helen Mitchell Business Manager

Jonathan Smith Executive Assistant

Margaret Trotter Finance Manager

Ali Zaidi Artistic Director

Current Board of Trustees

Ian Danby

Jenny Edwards CBE

Tanja Farman

Colin Hicks (Chair)

KT Khan

Jean Reddan

Irfan Shareef

Former members of the Board of Trustees

Guy Briggs 2008 - 2011

Rose Fenton 1996 - 2010

Behroze Gandhy 1996-2008

Ravinder Gill 2003-2008

Mohammed Khan 1996-2003

Kate Mayne 2009 - 2011

Rosalind Price 1996-2004

Julia Rowntree 1998 - 2009

John Simms 2002-2008

Catherine Ugwu 1996-1998

Patrons

Shekhar Kapur

Baroness Oona King of Bow

Surina Narula

Yinka Shonibare MBE

Nina Wadia

"…a brilliant pop-theatre marriage of East and West."

Moti Roti Puttli Chunni, 1993 - Michael Billington, The Guardian

"... an explosive, nerve-tingling climax and celebration of British Asian identity embracing both cultures ... absolutely ravishing ..."

One Night, 1997 - Carole Woddis. The Herald (Glasgow)

"A riveting exploration of the social, cultural, economic, intellectual and emotional magic carpet ride we all are on at this moment."

Alladeen, 2003-2005 - Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

Alladeen will haunt you. Wit keeps morphing into seriousness. Narrative and abstraction play games with each other.

Alladeen, 2003-2005 - Margo Jefferson. The New York Times

"motiroti is one of the few arts organisations truly to stretch between international cutting edge work and the lives of people in their own communities. They gain their inspiration from life in all its rich forms – it shows. If only more arts had this breadth of vision."

 Jenny Edwards, CEO Homeless Link

"A completely new process of working with institutions giving the museum and its audience a different perspective."

Priceless, 2006 - Hannah Redler, Head of Arts, Science Museum

"A successful culmination of an outstanding project and we are immensely proud to have presented it."

Priceless, 2006 - Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery

"... art which really does deserve the ‘public’ tag. "

The Seed The Root, 1995 - Lena Corner, The Big Issue

“ a cross pollination of cultures, gestures, words and images, multiplied into a grandiose kaleidoscope of colours “

Journeys of Love & More Love, 2009 - Giulio Baffi, La Repubblica

" Ali Zaidi transforms his own existential paradoxes into the focal point of his poetry."

Journeys of Love & More Love, 2009 - Adriana Pollice, Il Manifesto

" A feast for all the senses, Journeys of Love could prove to be the company’s most outstanding show to date."

Journeys of Love & More Love, 2010 - Beverly Andrews, The London Theatre Blog

"motiroti’s work is like being immersed in a wide-screen cinematic experience with surround sound. Their thoughtful and beautiful projects inspire and tickle the sensibilities of an exceptionally wide range of audiences. "

Shekhar Kapur, Film Maker, India/UK

"motiroti actively engages individuals and communities with place and context. Translating these engagements into works of beauty, created as a result of the agency of the participants...a form of radical art for the modern consumer age."

Zayd Minty, Cultural Producer and Curator, South Africa

"motiroti is a unique British theatre company whose dazzling site-specific, multi-media productions are the stuff of legend."

Beverly Andrews, The London Theatre Blog

“Indian by birth, Pakistani by migration and British by chance, I like to draw upon this cultural displacement to pursue creative explorations of commonality and difference.”

Ali Zaidi, Artistic Director

“The mix of auto-story, fiction, ethnographic report, historical accounting , tourism, archiving et al made for a’ rich meal’ for evoking our ‘time and state’ .

Journeys of Love & More Love, 2010 – Prof. Sarat Maharaj

“Working with motiroti was THE catalyst that really kick-started my international career.”

Steve Ouditt, Artist/Lecturer, University of West Indies, Trinidad

motiroti identifies and celebrates fresh ways of being, new connections and exciting possibilities for imagining contemporary cultures.

Shahalae Jamil, Nukta Art :Contemporary Art Magazine, Pakistan

This is the most wonderful event of my gallery, hats off to motiroti and its team for broadening the vision of the youth, multiplying their way of seeing and creating works of art.  60x60 Secs, 2009 Riffat Alvi : Director VM Gallery, Pakistan

"Fresh Masaala: Take 3 artists, 52 morphed portraits, several dozen pairs of eyes and an intricate sound installation of interwoven voices. Add a pitch of politics and generous measure of personality, stir gently for six months and then bring to the boil. Caution: This exhibition will make your eyes water" 

Fresh Masaala, 2000 - Mark Saunders, Dazed and Confused