Outcomes

Niger-ish

The first component of Waiting Room is a short documentary style film which I have titled Niger-ish. This is a word play on the two nationalities, Nigerian and Irish. Niger-ish features the story of Femi, who has lived in Ireland since 2005.

Femi narrates his experiences since receiving Humanitarian Leave to Remain status in this country, and his views on the existing asylum process.
Niger-ish was created with minimum distraction and was structured as a conversation piece, where I assumed the role of observer, listener and medium, allowing Femi to narrate his story naturally and without intrusion to his daily routine. I didn’t want Niger-ish to be a staged interview so there were no prepared questions. I employed an objective approach and let the conversation flow in whatever form it took. On completion the film was featured to the public in the Four Gallery as a shared conversation.

This film was an expression of individuality.
It was an informative account of the why Nigerians come to Ireland, the reasons they come to Ireland and what happens when they get deported back to Nigeria.
The extracts from Nigerian movies gave a real sense of life in Nigeria.
My aim for Niger-ish was to challenge and inform prevailing thoughts existing, regarding Nigerian asylum seekers in the Irish system today.

Food For Thought

The second component of my exhibition was Food For Thought. It was a Nigerian cooking demonstration, open to the public, which took place in the Fire Station Artist’s Studios. Three Nigerian women, seeking asylum, prepared and cooked traditional Nigerian dishes, narrating and answering audience questions. The event was accompanied by music and dance featuring leading Nigerian cultural musicians, Ife Olu.

I didn’t direct or force the audience to make bonds or connect.
It was left it open for exchange to occur naturally. There was open exchange between the audience and the events participants.

Seminar: The Tool of Conversation

This was the third component of my exhibition Waiting Room. I structured Waiting Room to be a progression from a private discussion with Femi, to a public event with the cooking demonstration and now finally to a more universal collective with this seminar.

The Tool of Conversation which took place in the Lab gallery, Dublin on 30th of June was a very open and interesting discussion which brought visual artists, asylum seekers and stakeholder organisations together to examine the role of visual art as a means of exploring and highlighting issues around immigration and new communities. There were numerous of important issues and questions brought up. There was a lively discussion between seminar speakers who were Ann Walshe, Jesse Jones, Ronan Mc Crea (chair), Fidele Mutwarasibo, Christian Kotey and Femi Bisi Adepoju (who was also a participant in Niger-ish) and audience members. I will provide a short summary of the seminar under topics that I found most interesting and crucial.

The seminar was documented by video. Copies are available on request by contacting Fiona.

Methods of approaching collaborative arts projects with asylum seekers
Role of the artist in Collaborative Projects
Artist Working with Vulnerable Groups - Issues
Gender issues within groups of Asylum Seekers
How to Mediate the Experience
Funding and Cultural Organisations
Integration

Methods of approaching collaborative arts projects with asylum seekers

The methods of approaching collaborative projects: aesthetics, politics, art history and ethical codes have to be considered when approaching collaborative projects
Professional boundaries and relationships of pre existing groups are also important issues to consider. The medium used by the artist and the methods the artist uses in relating to people are important when working with vulnerable groups.
Ann stated how art can make cross links with anthropology and ethnography etc. to expand knowledge and give insight in dealing with groups and Fiona gave an example of how care working can provide important skills to deal with people and relationships, without becoming a social worker or counsellor.
An audience member also mentioned the importance of the artist in articulating perspectives because the stranger or the “other” can be scary and it is important for the artist to be able to articulate their position very clearly.

Role of the artist in Collaborative Projects

The role of the artist in collaborative projects was a key issue in all discussions. Can an artist be objective? If the artist’s role is to make representations, what does work represent and how does it represent? Should art be a representation of identity? An audience member brought up the fact that most of the stories we hear about asylum seekers is through media and he questioned whether art projects with asylum seekers should be advertised through mainstream media.

So, is the role of the artist to provide a representation to mainstream media audience or provide a counter representation, which circulates, to a different audience? Another audience member suggested that mediated experiences through newspapers have less impact than listening to stories straight from the horse’s mouth. He gave an example of how the cooking demonstration, Food for Thought was interesting because people got information on the asylum experience from a direct source which is a good mode of distribution, rather than media coverage.

Ronan brought up how artists have to position themselves in a role which also includes roles of various other professionals from different disciplines. He was interested in how regulatory and ethical codes that other disciplines have are brought into play when an artist comes into the situation. There was also discussion around how the artist has to negotiate with the subjects around the issue of representation and how the medium an artist uses has to be carefully considered in this representation. Ronan gave an interesting theory about the role of the artist as an armature who inhabits an institution. Is the role of the artist to be a facilitator to advocate for and give voice to voiceless people? An audience member mentioned how difficult the role of an artist working in collaborative arts practice with new communities can be, because the artist is positioned where he/she has to learn from scratch and take on a lot of responsibility to make a representation, “under the radar” without the umbrella and safety of an organisation.

Artist Working with Vulnerable Groups - Issues

There were interesting discussions on how an artist works with asylum seekers. Femi stated that asylum seekers are vulnerable and feel threatened by somebody occupying their space.
Femi explained how there is a controlled non- identity of asylum seeker. The stories they present to the Department of Justice at the beginning when they first arrive in Ireland is everything and they are afraid to change anything about their story, even if is isn’t one hundred percent honest, in case this may affect the outcomes of their status.

So if the artist chooses documentary as a medium to present their story, is this medium the best suited to represent their stories because anything that’s said may affect their story.
If this is the case then documentary isn’t objective version but subjective as the stories have to be doctored
So if the artist chooses their role to be an unknown observer – is this the best way to represent the truth and reality of the lives of asylum seekers? The artist can help asylum seekers feel liberated but yet there are still limits to this liberation.

Gender issues within groups of Asylum Seekers

There was a very interesting discussion around gender issues, which are now being created within the African community in Ireland today. Gender issues were discussed in Femi’s speech. He explained how women have traditional roles in Africa but feel more liberated when they come to Ireland. Femi suggested that this could cause a dilemma because men’s positions are threatened in Ireland because they cannot be the breadwinner and provide for the family any longer. This affects the structure of the Nigerian family in Ireland today. This also presents us with the facts that there are several other layers to be resolved within African communities themselves before we even deal with “integration”

How to Mediate the Experience

Jesse Jones asked an important question which many artists dealing with asylum seekers and vulnerable groups face: Is the work mediating the experience palatable?

She suggested that we should experience culture from different depths, through film or literature, to broaden knowledge and give space for multiple voices. Language is also an important factor. In Jesse’s project 12 angry films, she questioned are we privileging one culture over another by producing work in the English language. Her work, 12 Angry Films played with the notion of creating a common culture through language. Every participant in 12 angry films spoke in their native language. Anne’s stated that art is not cross- cultural, but is more about adaptations you make.

Christian mentioned the importance of creating by adapting and using art as a medium and communication to tell stories and how art creates a voice to break barriers of stereotypes and prejudice. Ann stated the importance of understanding and realising how to mediate an experience and legislate for individuals and stated that the artist usually learns more from working with asylum seekers than the asylum seeker learns from them.

Funding and Cultural Organisations

Cultural organisations were talked about to fund artistic and cultural projects abroad but artists in the audience voiced how funding cultural activity can become cultural tourism. They have a lot of funding for art but artists do not seem to be availing of this funding. It was also mentioned how the funding forms are not very accessible for artists and artists often get put off applying for this reason. Jesse added that we should develop Irish art by importing rich culture and knowledge into Ireland as well as exporting our own.

Integration

Fidele described how integration has become a mantra in political discourse and was a key issue discussed in the seminar. Some of the speakers believed that asylum seekers should be focused on coping instead of integrating and maintaining your own identity. Ann described Integration as a discourse where you are beginning to belong and beginning to understand

Fidele gave three examples as models of integration, used in different countries, which have not really worked. The first model is the Republican model; acting like a person from that country and acquires the language of the country. The second model is the Guest Worker model where people come in to work but mostly end up staying. The final model is the Circular model and is based on immigrants coming into a country with the contract that once having earned some money and acquiring new skills, they go home. This is not usually the case though.

Fidele believes that art should celebrate difference but not through the three d’s: dance, dish and dress. He gave an interesting example of his theory on power relationship versus the exotic. Gave an interesting example of how an African dressed in traditional clothes is seen as exotic but when he wears a suit, he is then seen as powerful and threatening. Fidele also stated that culture should be questioning. He stated that culture isn’t static but always dynamic and so we must be always be questioning of culture and move with the flow of culture.

He believes that models of integration should be enabling ways of functioning in society and that organisations should offer the opportunity for this to happen
Some audience members asked how are asylum seekers being accepted when they are not being provided with equal services and access to the public sphere? Suggestions also came from the audience that the Minister for Justice should be attending Reception Centres around the country, where asylum seekers are held, to talk with the people and negotiate.

An audience member suggested that Ireland should be paying attention as we could be in the position to learn from policies, which have failed, and offer new policies on integration. Fidele believes that integration is a relationship of power and it’s up to us to re- negotiate that power and it is the responsibility of the artist to try to achieve this and work within an agreeable framework.
There was a suggestion from an audience member that artists are in a powerful position through the artist’s union, VAI, to support organisations in opposing a new Immigration Bill, which is planning to be introduced in September. Details on the new bill can be seen on the Department of Justice’s website.

The seminar was informative, interesting and questioning because each speaker contributed to it from different perspectives. It was informal, allowing the audience to participate as much as possible. The speakers gave interesting and informative accounts of their work and artistic projects carried out. The seminar demonstrated the hidden layers associated with collaborative practice. It also opened up into discussions about other issues that tie into collaborative arts practice, such as modes and politics of representation and other issues such as power, exoticism and gender. It would have been more beneficial if more representatives from different cultural organisations attended the seminar to add to the discussion and shed some light on the topic of funding for arts dealing with cultural issues.

The seminar definitely did not reach any conclusions but it certainly created possibilities for future seminars and discussions to further tease out some of the issues and questions presented at the seminar. I also hope it will lead to more cross-linkage, communication and support between artists and cultural organisations to develop projects dealing with issues of immigration, asylum and new communities. It also proved that socially interactive and collaborative arts practice certainly has a place, powerful role and position in Ireland today.