When is it/is it ever okay to tell somebody else's story?
Before we consider this we will think about the different meanings of migration:
Voluntary Migration
Forced Migration
How do we represent other cultures?
- The White Gaze / romanticisation of the other through publications such as National Geographic
Ai Wei Wei, Human Flow (2017)
A documentary film about the global refugee crisis.
How important is it that he comes from a migrant family/is a migrant?
Does it make 'privileged' artists feel redundant?
Is that an important thing to think about?
Do we need to make big gestures as artists? What are the motivations of 'privileged' artists? To make a difference or to be considered 'great'?
Maybe its best to think of ripples in a pond - maybe making something people enjoy is enough.
WATCH HUMAN FLOW
Khaled Barakeh, Afterimages (2018, video installation)
- Syrian artist
- founder of CoCulture - a database for displaced artists and cultural producers, particularly from the Middle-East and Syria.
Does eradicating something physical ever eradicate the past? (Referring to the deliberate destruction of historical sites in Syria by IS)
The past is never only the past, it is always tied to the present.
Watch David Lammy's speech in the House of Commons:
Alberta Whittle, Reset (2020 video work)https://www.frieze.com/artistaward
'Exploring timely questions relating to personal healing and the cultivation of hope in hostile environments, such as the present global pandemic or colonialism, this urgent political film strikes the balance between grief and reflection, empathy and desire.'
Potential for new work: video collage, writing, speech
Whittle creates feeling, a sense of something through video - never direct, but intuitive
I imagine she has a good idea of what she wants to communicate though, otherwise the feeling wouldn't come through.
&
Use of humour in this work - a mechanism to alienate the pain of these subjects.
calummartin 