1st Discussion
The first of 3 events that have been organised to feature the artists of the work, to talk about their practice and allow participants to debate as well as give feedback to the artists. This event involved photographers Seba Kurtis and Alex Beldea who have made work around refugees as that topic at the minute is a talking point in the media across the world in recent times. The event was situated in the main gallery in front of both artists work and the proposed seating plan was to have the artists at the front and face the audience. However that plan was altered and the seating arrangements transformed into a circle. This allowed the event to be a more intimate affair and offer more of a flowing debate it felt much like an on going conversation rather than question and answer to the artists. The audience turnout was around a dozen with Dr Devlin opening/ending and chairing the event. Thus the event began with Alex Beldea discussing his work.
Alex Beldea was a student at Huddersfield University whose previous projects focused on refugees in the U.K. Alex is from Romania and his current project ‘Asma’ was to understand the issue better rather than what has been shown with the media. This allowed Alex to meet the people, not see them as stereotyped as refuges, who use to have an ordinary life before the war overseas. He didn’t want to treat them as refuges but people like us. He discussed that the rise of the internet/social media/smart phones allows much more information to be shared onto the web from the refugee’s point of view. An image Alex had, was sent through the messaging app Whatsapp, it contained the voyage of a refugee on a dingy, however as the image was sent, the phone was dropped into the water and lost forever. The image on the phone was no more but survived owing to the powers of technology…
Seba Kurtis is a professional photographer who had to flee his country of Argentina many years ago, thus for a time in his life, he him self was labelled as a refugee. The projects that followed after securing residence in England have featured a theme around refugees and migration. His work is shot with a medium format camera and this work in particular features all portraits of refugees. The portraits were like Alexs work to show the refugees as people and the tactics they use to remain undetected from officials. The refugees place plastic bags over their heads to censor their breath from detections in their bodies. So to do this, Seba used photo-shop to layer the image on top of the portrait so that it looked like the viewer was the refugee with the plastic bag on top of their head. A simple idea but executed with style, as the images look beautiful as they are mounted on the wall and the frames around the image are wooden which just enhances this image in particular.
The issues of immigration are of a delicate matter one might say, as photographing refugees can be a difficult task. As they are seeking to be invisible from the world but with the labels of refugees sticking to them they are unable to do so. With the media trying to document ‘them’ as ‘the other’, ‘these refugees’, it has been difficult to photograph them as Seba began to discuss halfway through the conversation. He told the group of how he use to get hit repeatedly by the refugees early on, but after talking to them one on one as individuals and not as photographing them as a collective bunch of refugees. The use of medium format photography proved to be a good way of bonding with the people as they were interacting with this mammoth of a camera and not seeing it as a tool for documenting them. How are these people portrayed through art, both Alexs and Sebas work, they had to be careful of turning people into the victims. They are seeking asylum from the crisis of war. Asylum in its truest form means a place of safety. So, how much can photography do? Answer. Nothing. Photographs do nothing; it is a people that view the images that do something. What right does the photographer have using this ‘truth machine’? However each individual has their own personal story to tell of their travels to secure residence somewhere and trying to capture the essence of their stories is what both artists have tried to do. The conversation and participation from the audience was prominent throughout with nearly everyone asking questions about the work. One question in particular that stood out was, what were the blockers/barriers in trying to execute the work. The answer was the people themselves as the instinct to remain invisible kicked in. However Seba replied that speaking to the people about football and that half of the time his saviour was Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi.
The event began to end and reflections on Brexit began to creep into conversation with both artists discussing that they are both yet again trying to secure residence again in England, which is unfortunately ironic owing that their work has been focused on refugees, thus if government deem it so, they can reject their permits to live in England. However to not end on a sad note, the event drew to a close as daylight faded, the whisperings of going for a beer began to get louder. Of which most of the group did and Seba and Alex gave the participants a critique of their work, if they had work to show over a couple of steins of beer.
The next event on the 23rd March features Richard Mulhearn and Richard Higgenbottom and their theme of photographic representation. Hopefully it will be as much as a success as this first event.