When home won’t let you stay, artwork addressing global migration.
Kallats work shows a full scale woven map of the world depicting migrant routes around the globe. Although the work was completed in 2016 Kallat sees this, quite rightly, as a work in progress and still adds routes that represent todays migrant movements.
This collaborative work shown in Boston, When home won’t let you stay, focuses on the migration and displacement of people around the globe. I feel that this exhibition space, and theme would be a good fit for my work visually, aesthetically and contextually. I feel comfortable in a gallery setting having had a reasonable amount of experience in this area, I am also very comfortable within an interdisciplinary frame. This curated collection contains many disciplines which I find inspiring.
The Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum is showing Exodus II from 2002, a sculpture that connects a pair of suitcases with strands of hair, suggesting separation from familial roots.
Richard Misrach from his series Border Cantos. 2004-2016.
Ricard Misrach documented the 2,000 mile long border between the USA and Mexico for this series Border Cantos. This area has been the center for recent political polarization regarding the influx of asylum seekers trying to gain entry into the US. This area is often ‘guarded’ by vigilante groups who have no connection to the authorities.
The work in this gallery setting is really inspiring. I believe that researching these artists can really inform your own work and if you are interested in pushing boundaries, as I am, this type of research is critical. My interests are broadly speaking related to photographic observation in the first instance, from there my work can include printmaking, installation and painting. In order to push boundaries it is very important to accept, own and document all the failures that can, and will happen in the process. If these failures are documented you have the ability to return to them at a later date, they may not be helpful for you in your current body of work, but they can be for future explorations.
Bibliography
CNN, Catherine E. Shoichet and Paul P. Murphy. 2020. ‘This Militia Group Is Accused of Kidnapping Migrants at the Border’. CNN [online]. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/us/united-constitutional-patriots-what-we-know/index.html [accessed 5 Mar 2020].
Critical Research Journal: De Ferrier 