ENGL1102 - Artifact 2

Click for Author Information

Unseen In the Age of Surveillance

The age of modern technology brings about increased accessibility and heightened development of communication and surveillance technologies. It plays an integral role in telling the narratives of refugees, an act that may be regarded as some form of (either intention or unintentional) surveillance, as the lives of refugees and immigrants are followed.

Perspectives on technology in the refugee crisis.

Group 2: Alexis, Maahir, Melody, Maddison, Ashish Lehman, ENGL1102 - HP2

Click on the icons to explore deeper commentary on the relationships between technology and the narrative storytelling of refugees in the modern world.

What am I hearing? The reading of recent news headlines are a reminder of how the media frames refugees. The looping (barely understandable) audio in the background is a reminder of the constant eyes and camera lens always trained on the refugees.

Painting the Narrative

The way a story is told shapes the perceptions of those who hear it.

Understanding the Journey

The journey begins with the decision to leave their homes, their lives, and their communities behind.

Finding a Home

Once arrival at the destination is achieved, there begins another set of hardships and experiences, marked by the need to develop a community, which is enabled through technology.

What now?

Understanding the locality of these stories in your local community -- and building the understanding and recognition of a diverse world.

Access the Collective Bibliography Here

The Mapping Project

Analysis

Source

Context

Back

Bouchra Khalili

The Mapping Project

Analysis

Source

Context

Back

Bouchra Khalili

The Pillar of Missing Migrants

Analysis

Source

Context

Back

Barthélémy Toguo

The Son of a Migrant from Syria

Source

Context

Analysis

Back

Banksy

The Museum is the Refugee's Home

Back

Analysis

Context

Source

Jason Farago

Xiangdong, Liu. “Refugees 4.” The Warmth Of Other Suns, The Phillips Collection, New York, 22 June 2019, New York Museum, New York, https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2019-06-21-warmth-other-suns-stories-global-displacement. Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.

The aptART Artists' Collective

Storytelling Through Murals

Analysis

Back

Source

Context

Diana Garcia, John Servante, Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix

Connecting During COVID

Analysis

Back

Source

Context

Yehimi Cambrón

Monuments:Atlanta's Immigrants

Analysis

Back

Source

Context

Conclusion

Back

To conclude, the goal of this artifact was to represent migrant narratives via technology in a manner such that their stories and experiences are not warped or altered. This is most often done through artwork and symbolic pieces so the migrants have the freedom to express themselves. Sometimes, these artifacts are shared via an online medium, such as news articles or press releases. However, these are often sensationalized representations of migrant narratives, and this is done to garner viewers or get clicks. Furthermore, with this online artifact, we as the authors have tried our best to share migrant narratives without changing or altering the perspective of these migrants, thus giving the consumers of this piece a non-biased representation of migrants, promoting mentalities centered around acceptance and empathy.

Context

The overarching project, initiated by the international artists' collective aptART, is a part of a series of art collections intended to connect artists and children around the world. This painting, on tent canvas collected from refugee camps, is a part of a series of murals and documentaries showcasing the stories of refugees from countries ranging from Iran to Mozambique.The Paint Outside the Lines project was a in the 2010's as a response to the Syrian refugee crisis.Through collaboration with Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) organization, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department, aptART brought the initiative directly to refugee camps in Iraq, connecting displaced Kurdish, Turkish, Iraqi, and Syrian persons.

Context

This piece is local to Atlanta, Georgia. The mural, Monuments: Atlanta's Immigrants, was completed in September 2020 by visual artist Yehimi Cambron. The mural, painted onto the outside of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, commemorates the immigrant community of Atlanta, a diverse world of cultures, people, and experiences. Cambron is currently an undocumented immigrant in the United States (having arrived as a child). Consequently, this piece is especially personal to her. To illustrate this, she interwove her work with tributes to her family's migration journey and Mexican heritage. This mural was painted from using a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, following almost immediately another commission she painted in Hapeville featuring similar portraits, but of the faces of children from the local community. As such, Cambron's works become an outlet for the voices of many members of the surrounding community, making analysis of her work and how it is shared ideal in understanding the role of narrative storytelling.

A close examination on the Louvre’s synopsis of Toguo’s work emphasizes the renewed perspective that the pillars bring and its position of social critique on the increase in deaths and disappearances of immigrants. With a steady incline in the loss of migrant life, the juxtaposition of the colorful fabrics in contrast to the dark problems they depict juxtaposes the lives of the many as immigrants live less than suitable lives, and even worse deaths.Despite the modernization of technology and subsequently an increase in the representation of refugees, there still appears to be a disconnect in consideration of migrant lives, empathy for their problems, and ambition for the solutions. As the internet threads the world together, the reach Toguo’s Pillar of Missing Migrants is exacerbated by the technological advancements being heeded currently. The placement of the structure beneath the Pyramid of Louvre captivates its true simplicity while emphasizing the societal context of its origin. In a way, the miserable beauty of the structure connects the daily evolution of history with the displacement of refugees around the world, risking their lives in hopes to experience a life worth living. As a subtle homage to the slave trade, the pillars symbolize the dangerous journeys taken by migrants of the world to a safe haven that may not exist in our current society.

Analysis

Created by the British street artist and political activist Banksy, this mural resided on the side of aconcrete brigde in a refugee camp in southern France. The reason that Banksy chose to portray Steve Jobs, the infamous cofounder and CEO of Apple, is because Jobs' biological father was himself a migrant from Syria that left the Middle East for the U.S. due to political unrest (Frazee).Created during the European Refugee Crisis, this mural serves as a critique of rising xenophobia in Western Europe with the hopes of calling attention to the positive exponential impacts that migration most often brings.

Banksy's Statement

Context

The "Jungle" (Calais, France)

Located near the Port of Calais and English Channel, this refugee camp turned shanty town existed from 2015 to 2016. Eventually home to around 7,000 migrants hailing from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, and more, the camp housed those seeking passage to the U.K (Frazee). Referred to by its inhabitants as the "jungle," due to its unfortunate conditions, it initially went ignored by the French government. However, after experiencing significant growth in a short period of time, the French government demolished the settlement.

Commentary on the Internet's Role in Modern Migration

Internetization

Source

Internetization refers to the diffusion of internet usage across the world. When put in the context of migrating peoples, studies have shown that the Internet is encouraging greater movement worldwide, partially as a result of greater materialism (Pesando, et al.). Nonetheless, migrants exist due to issues of both political and economic consequence, a subset of whom are refugees. As these migrants identify their destination countries, their movement is increasingly informed via social media conversation and content. This change is drastic.Now, migration is made with an image of the "ideal" already in mind for many, and those who leave continue to be able to communicate easily with their families at home, thereby reducing immediate uncertainties around movement. Already, the interface on which migration lies is being reshaped by the Internet, and as network capabilities continue to evolve, the communications-based distance between places will continue to shrink.

In the end, the crisis of not only missing migrants but missing migrant narratives is one of extreme irony in the modern day. Despite expoentially increasing interconnectivity and visibility, thousands of people exist and perish without being noticed, or at least without being helped. While this issue may be systemic in nature, another facet of border regimes perpetuated by means of aggressive surveillance technologies, its potential solution may lie in the means of its creation. Sharing migrant stories, while consciously avoiding sensationalization and calling out national and international agencies for their insidiously inactive roles in these situations seems to be the most promising short term solution. People do not deserve to die or disappear in silence. Everyone deserves the dignity of noise, of attention, of compassion, especially in suffering.

Acknowledging the Complexity

(Above) This is a visual representation of the "Mapping Journey Project" as Khalili explores the refugee and migrant approaches to restrictive laws regarding nation states.

Khalili’s artwork is a video collection featuring the stories of eight individuals who were forced to become refugees for geopolitical or socioeconomic reasons. Each video includes the individuals’ voices, who narrate their experiences as they draw their paths across a map. The videos themselves were positioned across a series of displays at the Museum of Modern Art’s Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium. The stories of these individuals, who encountered the artist (Bouchra) in a wide range of areas – from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East –, reflect the complexity that comes with the many routes taken whilst migrating. Her subjects were met in transit hubs and were thus asked to share their journeys up until or a little past those points, and the video collective gives them a platform to share their experiences.

Context

Analysis

By pairing this mural with technology, Cambron transforms her art piece into a conduit for storytelling. In her artist's statement, she explains how this mural brings into focus "the stories of power and hope of people who have been historically and systematically oppressed" (Cambron). And, indeed, her mural becomes a conduit for storytelling -- she elaborates on her inspirations and thought process in online articles. By way of these outlets, she shares her own experience as an undocumented immigrant. This differs significantly from the standard third-person perspective of news outlets -- her artwork becomes a means to have her words reach the front pages of thousands across the country, offering a realistic perspective of what it means to be an immigrant who has arrived in a foreign place. Yet this impact would not have been enabled without technology, and perhaps builds an argument for why more attention from news outlests should be paid to those who have stories to tell, and not just the surrounding story itself.

Art is a powerful mechanism through which the voices of refugee children may be told. As a part of the Paint Outside the Lines and Opening Lines projects (and art collections) initiated by aptART, children were brought together to paint on tent canvases. These projects were initiated in response to the Syrian Civil War, where mass displacement of persons leads to people of Turkish, Iraqi, Syrian, and Kurdish origins mixing together, creating high tensions due to historical sociocultural differences. This is where aptART steps in. To encourage understanding and empathy between these communities, children in these refugee camps collaborate, creating murals and artworks together. These same children learn about and create art expressing their perspectives on local issues.The murals they create serve not only as creative outlets but, moreover, a means of humanizing the narratives of people too often lost under the de-humanizing news coverage of conflict. AptART's social media accounts feature the children and artists in conversation, including short documentary-style videos that follow the children immersed in their creative projects. The children bend over bottles of paints and paper, their hands stained with paint like a normal kindergarten classroom. The harnessing of social media -- and by extension, technology -- offers a way to connect internal communities, whilst building a secondary, global community that sees the people affected by conflict as who they are: people.

Analysis

Context

The Museum Is the Refugee’s Home is a text that describes the refugees’ point of view on how they are being treated and what they feel in today’s world, as well as how they have used art as a getaway and as a means to share their emotions and feelings. The text portrays migrant narratives through the use of multiple examples, as well as multiple real stories and experiences from people. One thing the text does consistently acknowledge is the fact that migrants face severe difficulties and often pay the ultimate price despite there being adequate technologies to track them, and even protect them if people chose to do so. The text focuses on the refugees using art as a gateway to share their trauma and experiences with the rest of the world. The narratives of the migrants in this text will help us better understand their situation and the role that technology can play in helping them spread their message and make it safer for them to migrate.

A picture of New Museum in New York, the location where the paintings discussed in the text are showcased

Context

The project is a 6-minute animated film that describes the experiences of Brazilian, Indian, and Somali migrant communities in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The feelings of loneliness and disillusion were heightened for migrants during the pandemic. Their unique position made them increasingly susceptible to economic, social, and health-related challenges and placed them in a fragile state. Migrants experienced uncertainty about their legal status, inadequate access to food, and cramped living conditions, and were largely unable to practice their culture.During this difficult period, migrants relied on technology for remittance services and to connect with their loved ones across the globe. However, even though technology minimized the migrant struggle, it left a gaping void of human contact, that this film illustrates through three powerful migrant narratives.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic was a grim period for the entire planet, it was particularly grueling for migrants. This project specifically highlights the migrant struggle during this period and places a keen emphasis on how their technological use affected their lifestyle, making it a strong representation of the juxtaposition of technology and migrant challenges. The project allows us to appreciate the efficacy of technology in allowing migrants to connect with their families from across the planet, both through words and remittance, and offer solace during a difficult period. However, it also shows us that technology is limited in its ability to eliminate hardships and that it is not a panacea for all migrant struggles. We can see, and hear through the voices of migrants, that there are real challenges that require systemic changes to be resolved and that aren't vincible merely through technology. Additionally, by showing the obstacles encountered by relatively well-equipped migrants, the project provokes reflection on deeper migrant crises, such as the missing migrant crisis. In particular, it highlights the intrinsic limitations of technology in altering human suffering, and the need for tangible, institutional changes to overcome the most pressing migrant challenges.

Analysis

Context

This installation, titled "The Pillar of Missing Migrants" pays homage to the lives of individuals who have gone missing while attempting to find a better life for themselves and their families. The exhibition was part of a larger collection of pieces, A History of Still Life (curated by art historian Laurence Bertrand Dorléac at the Louvre), and features the work of Barthélémy Toguo under the iconic glass pyramid. Each bundle, made of African fabrics, is reminiscent of the makeshift luggage carried by displaced persons, both in the present and past.The photographs are part of a larger news article released by the Louvre, featuring the piece, alongside the artist's interpretation and a video on the artwork.

The Limiting Role of Technology

Source

While the increased connectivity and autonomy that technology and the internet offer often help migrants during and after their journeys, they have an equal potential to cause harm. Often, migrants have limited or nonexistent internet access that prove communications technologies obsolete, and creates danger when they need to be relied on. GPS apps can and often are monitored by governmental agenicies, both the ones migrants flee from and the ones they seek asylum in (Alencar). And, while communication with friends and family often provides support systems for migrants, they also have the potential to create feelings of guilt and shame, negatively impacting the mental health of those who are already struggling. As such, technology becomes a source of anxiety and paranoia, creating limiting factors in their movements.

Khalii’s artwork represents a deeper meaning in the scope of the refugee crisis. By having the refugees relay their stories in their own voice, the piece starkly contrasts surveillance or news media; rather than taking an outsider’s perspective, an insider’s voice is heard through a combination of technology and action. Typically in government surveillance, migrants are reduced to mere numbers, a description of some “aliens” who have “crossed into their lands.” In a similar vein, news media outlets harness these numbers and the excitement of drama to catch the public eye. The midst of the “new exciting stories” the voices of the refugees are muddled and sometimes become lost in the overarching narrative, and the stories shift views, becoming more about the gains of these news outlets or external third parties, rather than raising awareness about the lives of these refugees themselves. As such, Khalili’s work is powerful. She turns down these opportunities to feature her own “name” and her own “face” in the collection, opting instead to feature the voices of migrants. This rejection of modern technology is a statement on how technology may sometimes cloud the individual voices of individuals who are migrating.Within the visual aspect of the piece, Khalili cannot be seen, but rather heard as she introduces different mediums and the meaning behind her artwork. Khalili’s collection of videos becomes a valuable source capable of reflecting both positive and less beneficial aspects of technology’s role in telling the stories of migrants.

Analysis

The life story of Steve Jobs' biological father is not necessarily common knowledge, and therefore is semi-removed from the cutlural narrative; much to the disadvantage of migrant groups. Migrant narratives, if not outright ignored, often go either undocumented or unmentioned as a result of slowly violent tendencies perpetuated by the xenophobic forces Banksy is attempting to critique. By using Jobs' iconic image (associated with the highest qualities and members of society) in such a contrasting situation, the dissonance created prompts the viewer to question their own personal beliefs about migrant peoples. Why do 'we' remember and adore him, but not these people? Why couldn't they or their children bring about the same success and progress? And why do 'we' get to decide their fate based on an identity (the refugee identity) that we have created and assign only with scrutiny and convenience? Although it is problemtic in its own right to try and generate a sense of empathy through the cost-benefit analysis of humans, any empathy is better than none at all when empathy is is the solution to dehumanization.

The Missing (or disregarded) Migrant Story

Analysis

Art is a mode of communication that migrants may use to convey their thoughts and emotions. This particular text focuses on how migrants use art as a getaway to share their trauma and experiences with the rest of the world. The reason that most of these migrants turn to art rather than technology is due to the fact that they have lost hope in technology, and a result the myth that is western humanity because they know that there exist adequate technologies to track them throughout their journeys and help them if needed. However, this is rarely the case as the migrants are left to pave their own path and find themselves again in an alien environment. Art allows migrants to express themselves in any way they want to, whether it be abstract or symbolic. Some of the paintings in the collection The Warmth of Other Suns depict the internal migration of African Americans. The art pieces can also be very abstract, as seen in Barca Nostra by Christoph Büchel. The artwork is just the remains of a drowned vessel that was used to carry migrants. Despite there being all these pieces of art to share migrants' stories and experiences, they are often depicted as outsiders in the Western media. Hence, we as the authors of this curation intend to use technology the right way and represent migrant narratives the way they would want them to be represented, without altering or sensationalizing their stories in any way.

(Above) This is a visual representation of the "Mapping Journey Project" as Khalili explores the refugee and migrant approaches to restrictive laws regarding nation states.

Context

Analysis

While social media has an impact on the perceptions of refugees, it also shapes the perceptions of the populations in destination countries. Consider, for instance, Spain, which was affected most recently in 2015 by the European refugee reception crisis. During this time, as studies found, as national attention turned towards theinflux of refugees, mainstream news outlets had little hesitation in calling the situation a "crisis" and selectively displaying portraits of these refugees in poor condition. As such, whilst the urgency of such a situation was conveyed, there was a noticeable sensationalization of the narrative, which fed into the anti-refugee sentiment carried by some right-wing political party supporters.

Sensationalization of Narratives in Media

Source

The arrival of refugees was sensationalized (and the refugees immediately victimized) by several Spanish mainstream news outlets, as depicted via the photographs taken.

ENGL1102 - Artifact 2

More creations to inspire you

VISIT CAPE COD: 5 FUN FACTS YOU DIDN'T KNOW

CONSTELLATIONS

AURORA BOREALIS

WALK IN OUTER SPACE

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HACKING SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Transcript