No Man's Land
A collaborative photographic project based on the experiences of indefinite immigration detention in the UK.
- Submitting institution
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Kingston University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32-111-0000
- Type
- L - Artefact
- Location
- Celebrating Sanctuary Festival, Refugee Week UK, South Bank, London, U.K.
- Open access status
- -
- Month of production
- June
- Year of production
- 2014
- URL
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https://photoworks.org.uk/brighton-photo-biennial-2018-showcasenana-varveropoulou/#close-already
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
-
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Artistically led and curated by photographer Nana Varveropoulou, No Man’s Land (2014–18) is a collaborative visual arts project based on the experiences of indefinite immigration detention. While the subject of incarceration and immigration detention has been explored by other contemporary artists such as Friend and ridle, Varveropoulou was the first artist to be granted access to the physical spaces of immigration detention in the UK, in order to explore the issue through the very people affected by it. Varveropoulou’s long-term access to the participants and the centre– where photography is normally strictly prohibited – enabled her to develop a collaborative methodology in response to the needs of the project’s participants and collaborators. As No Man’s Land progressed, this materialised in five stages: initial workshops run by Varveropoulou; a photographic series captured by the artist; collaborative portraiture of the participants; collaborative identification of themes and a series of participant photographs responding to those (the passing of time, insomnia, anxiety, patience, loneliness, isolation, stagnation and hope); and, finally, the exhibition of work by the photographer and the participants in different formats, and at different venues. This evolution allowed Varveropoulou to accommodate the shifting incentives of the project’s participants, which resulted in the gradual transformation of their role into collaborators/co-authors.
No Man’s Land has been able to reveal through the medium of photography, for the first time, the inhumane character of the UK’s policy of indefinite immigration detention, and its traumatic consequences on the lives of detainees. At the same time, the project suggests a distinct long-term approach to collaborative practice, which perceives the role of the participants and its outputs’ dissemination formats as dynamic. No Man’s Land has been exhibited in London, Manchester, Brighton, Athens, GR, and Arles, FR, published in a book, featured in the press, and presented at a conference.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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