Dead Reckoning 2016

In response to the dehumanising language used by politicians and the media about people caught up in the refugee crisis, artist Bern O’Donoghue presents Dead Reckoning" an installation challenging the notion of ‘other’, which highlights the continuing loss of life as refugees attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of sanctuary in Europe. Since 2015, each time someone has drowned taking this perilous journey, Bern has made small paper boat in dedication to the person who has been lost; all somebody’s son, daughter neighbour or friend. Using data collected by the Missing Migrants Project, Bern made 3,770 boats in 2015 and a further 3,500 boats bearing witness between January and September 2016.

The New Union Project

The New Union Project , created by the artist Gil Mualem Doron, is an artistic  proposal to change the Union Jack with a modified version that incorporate textile designs of former colonized nations, as well as to reflect the diversity of ethnicities and nationalities of contemporary Britain. It has been created at the end of 2014 and since than exhibited in several places among them Packham Platform, Brixton Windrush Square, Hoxton Arches Gallery, and recently at the Turner Contemporary, Margate. In all these occasions visitors were photographed with the flag and the photos were uploaded to a dedicated site from which they could be printed for free. As of July 2016 hundreds of people participated in this project.

 In support for cultural diversity which is reflected by this proposal please take a selfie and post it on:

https://www.facebook.com/thenewunionflag/

 Commission by Platforma for the Turner Contemporary, the project grew into a room installation on the theme of “English Summer”, which was created with numerous props printed with the New Union design. The New Union project will be touring England during 2017 to the Tate Modern, London, Jubilee Library (Brighton) and more. 

For more details about the project and the artist GI Mualem Doron please see: www.a4community.com

Precarious Migration - Voices of Undocumented Cambodian Migrants

The research was funded by the Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium at the University of Sussex. 

Sochanny Hak
Analyzing Development Issues Centre (ADIC), Phnom Penh

Robert Nurick
Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium, University of Sussex 

Artwork by Nicola Streeten

About the Project

In May 2014 the Thai military initiated a coup and ousted the civilian government. In June that year, the new government issued a statement warning all undocumented migrants that they should leave the country or face arrest and deportation. In response to this, over a two week period in June 2014, it is estimated that close to 220,000 undocumented Cambodian migrants fled the country.

We had been working in Cambodian villages close to the Thai-Cambodian border since September 2013. We were struck by the number of families that had one or more members migrating in search of work to support their family. In discussing this phenomenon with colleagues in Cambodia and at the University of Sussex, a research proposal was developed that aimed to explore the dynamics of migration and relations within the household and the contribution that migration made to livelihoods. We were particularly interested in the impact that the involuntary return had on migrants and their families.

This comic represents one of the ways in which we share the stories of migrants and their families with a broad audience that goes beyond the academic community. We hope that this comic will contribute to readers’ understandings of the challenges and opportunities that migrants face. We hope that this will stimulate discussion and raise awareness of the issues with governments, organisations working with migrants, and the wider public.

Love, Lost, Separation and Hope

Hong Dam

Hong Dam explores the universal theme of love, lost, separation and hope. It is about journey into the unknown seen through the eyes of an eight year old child who had left North Vietnam as a boat refugee. Her work relates to childhood Memories/childhood dreams and how perceptions limit our arenas of what is possible.

A participatory workshop with digital art display relating to childhood dreams, where people are encourage to add their dreams to a fragile boat made of leaves placing on a weighing scale. The idea is whether you are the Queen of England or a refugee, does your dreams weigh any heavier or lighter? See links for previous workshops:

2016 British Museum exhibition and workshop. Participants writing childhood dreams and placing them onto the boat to be weighed:

• https://www.facebook.com/hongdam.artist/photos/pcb.999187370188411/999187160188432/?type=3&theater
• https://www.facebook.com/hongdam.artist/photos/pcb.999187370188411/999187160188432/?type=3&theater

2016 Turner Contemporary, Margate. Participants writing of Childhood dreams and placing them onto the boat to be weighed:

• https://www.facebook.com/hongdam.artist/photos/pcb.1004587119648436/1004586979648450/?type=3&theater
• https://www.facebook.com/hongdam.artist/photos/pcb.1004587119648436/1004586996315115/?type=3&theater

The Refugee's Gift

The Refugee's Gift is a free exhibition of photographs by Bill Knight  for the Refugee Council, which shows refugees and the contribution they make to life in the United Kingdom. Here are people who have escaped from persecution and who have benefited from our long tradition of offering asylum. They may have arrived recently from conflicts in Syria, Eritrea, or Somalia, or sought safety decades ago from Hitler’s Germany. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, most arrived with few material possessions – but they all came with an unstoppable determination to make a new life.

 For other Art events see the programme