28 May, 2019
Belén L.Yáñez is the last artist in residence in the art studio at the Room to Breathe exhibition. It has been exciting to see this space filled with so many different artistic practices and to witness how visitors have responded to them. Belén comes from Galicia, a land of migrant people or, as she calls it, of explorers. Her desire for travel, adventure and different life experiences is the main trigger of her migration story: from Santiago de Compostela to Budapest and Madrid, then to Sicily – where she worked with the National Institute of Ancient Drama – Belén developed her artistic career in the places she lived in. Although acting and theatre were her point of access to the world of art, performance became her main focus, especially after she moved to London to study Contemporary Performance Practices. Belén’s body of work is a reflection of her political understanding of both the social world and human relations. Her work, however, is also a result of the very rich experiences she lived through migration.
As with previous artists in residence we are going to learn more about Belén L.Yáñez through a series of questions and answers. Dima Karout, curator of the art studio, will offer her thoughts on Belén’s work, together with comments from previous artists in residence.
Assunta Nicolini (AN): Belén, welcome to the art studio at Room to Breathe. Your personal life/migration journey from Galicia (in north-west Spain) to London, with several detours along the way, has defined your artistic career. To what extent do you consider mobility essential to your work?
Belén L.Yáñez (BLY): The constant travelling brings new perspectives to my understanding of other people and the world we live in, and my art is a reflection of this. Being in movement is being alive. I have embraced my constant travelling as an essential part of my development as an artist. Therefore, my journey has become my art.
AN: Among the range of artistic practices you engage with, collages take a particular space in the art studio at the Migration Museum, where you both display your work and invite visitors to make their own. Could you tell us which process you follow when making your collages? Do you engage visitors in the same creation process that you go through?
BLY: I use collage as the medium to represent my perceptions, because collages are a composition of layers in which new images are created through the transformation of existing ones, in the same way that perception is transformed by being received by the senses and interpreted differently by different people.
My collages are an open door to all possibilities, a process of freedom that allows me to deconstruct reality by playing within layers of imagination, and to open up new perceptions using the ideas hidden in my subconscious.
In my studio, I created a space in which visitors are invited to explore, connect with other people and experience things.
Belén L. Yáñez at work in her studio in the “Room to Breathe” exhibition at the Migration Museum.
AN: Performance art is an art practice that you came to later in your career as an artist, in particular since you moved to London. Could you tell us about your formative experiences and your vision for performance art?
BLY: My fields of expertise are strongly interdisciplinary and cross-cultural with an academic background including a postgraduate course (MA) in Contemporary Performance Practices from the University of East London, and an undergraduate BA (Hons) in Politics & International Relations from Santiago de Compostela University.
I understand performance as an act that occurs between the performer(s) and the audience in the present time. In general, in my work, I am interested in the live encounter between the audience and the performer, a creative co-production through which a live experience is created. For me, performance only exists as a ‘real’ encounter between audience and performer, and through the experience that takes place between them artwork is created.
My work is a hybrid practice that seeks new ways to engage audience members as active participants. I aim to encourage a critical consciousness to reflect on current social realities.
AN: Dima, as curator of the art studio what is your opinion of Belén’s work?
Dima Karout: Belén is an intriguing multi-disciplinary artist whose work reflects on social issues, human connections, migration and identity. Her residency brings an exciting dimension to the Migration Museum, where art leaves the walls, and acts in the space. In her participatory performances, she invites visitors to transform themselves into active participants so that their moving bodies become a core part of the final piece. She brilliantly blends the boundaries between the artist, the artwork and the viewer to propose a sense of entity in a final coherent piece. On first coming across her different performances, I really admired her ability to design a site-specific work to create a conversation not only with the participant, but also with the history of the place.
What has most inspired me is Belén’s understanding of space and how she navigates her concepts through various mediums and spaces: from composing elements into the emptiness of a white page in her collage pieces – ‘a medium that allows me to rebuild a new reality, create new narratives by playing with layers of imagination’ – to designing a conceptual performance in which the body experiments and moves in the physical space. ‘Awakening invites participants to play different social scenarios and reflect on their culturally learnt behaviours.’
When I first met Belén, I was very impressed by her positive energy, body language and how in harmony she is with the work she creates. It is very refreshing to see how true she is as an artist to her practice. I always describe Belen as a travelling sun: she crossed borders, collected experiences, moments and light and she shares all of this with us through her art. Belén transformed the art studio space into not only a room to breathe, but also a colourful room full of movement and life. She offers a space for our imagination to travel freely and invites ‘all senses to a total awakening’.
When I stepped into Belén’s art studio, I immediately connected with the strong presence of orchestrated movements, and sensed the importance of the body in all of her work. In her collage pieces, your eye follows the visual flow she composed and the fragmented images of parts of the human body. And there are various elements delicately suspended in every corner or hung on the walls in unusual ways, all related to her previous performances. The presence of elements such as white shoes covered with handwritten lines of text, transparent clothes, and colourful handmade masks, all suggest the absence of the body, but also that there is a performance waiting to happen – a performance that becomes complete with the human. With you. I strongly invite you to visit Belén’s studio, to discover her unique universe, and to experience her powerful art.
AN: Ceyda and Shorsh, as previous artists in residence at Room to Breathe, which work by Belén would you consider your favourite?
Ceyda Oskay: I Is Another reminds me of my work with felt insoles for shoes, on which I embroidered ‘Come’ and ‘Go’ – gel-git – which is a phrase in Turkish that means both ‘tides in the sea’ and ‘indecision’. I liked seeing how different symbols, in this case shoes, can mean completely different things in artwork.
“I Is Another”, a participatory performance, invites participants to immerse themselves in a discovery process to understand urban regeneration in Stratford (east London).
‘Try walking in my shoes . . . ,’* Belén seems to be saying in this artwork – or at least try listening to others’ stories . . .
Belén’s piece is about gentrification but, rather than indulging in nostalgia, she employs an active ‘present’ participatory act, or perhaps performance: she asks participants to wear one of the shoes she has prepared, and to walk through neighbourhoods undergoing the social transformation of gentrification.
*lyrics to Depeche Mode’s ‘Try Walking in my Shoes’ song
Shorsh Saleh: Belén’s miniature collages are full of unexpected and surreal images. I found Watering Memories very interesting. The work is divided into two sections: in the top part we see the silhouette of a man, holding a watering can, set against a calm and empty background; the bottom part is completely different, with lots of lines crossing and fragmented words and images, all of which creates the overall effect of a graveyard. Underneath the crossing lines there is an image of an upside-down tree without any leaves, creating the effect of tree roots. Once you see the tree, you associate it with the person holding the watering can. In my opinion, the relation between the man and the tree is the key to understanding the message behind the work: the connection between you and your roots and your memories. This work is deep and sad and taps into the hidden melancholic feelings inside us all.
“Watering Memories” by Belén L.Yáñez, an analogue collage based on an old-fashioned picture postcard.
Belén L.Yáñez is artist in residence from 30 April to 2 June 2019. Belén will be in her studio most days until the end of her residency, and you can stop by to chat with her, and design your own artwork. She is also running two film installations this coming weekend, on Saturday 1 June and Sunday 2 June.
Assunta Nicolini, gallery supervisor, has been curating blogs about the artists who have had a residency in the gallery.
Dima Karout is a visual artist and educator and is curator in residence of the art studio inside Room to Breathe.
View the full schedule of artists in residence and find out more about Room to Breathe.
18 May, 2019
The New Londoners, an exhibition featuring portraits of families from all over the world who call London home, is on display in the Breathing Space café section of the Migration Museum until 27 May. This blog profiles the exhibition, which features the photographs of Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins, a long-term supporter of the Migration Museum. It includes a ‘behind-the-scenes’ section written by Patrick Dowse, one of Chris’s photographic assistants, about the process of securing the photographs.
Within the UK there is nothing new about the perceived difference between London and the rest of the country – historically, there has always been resentment of the capital, for its wealth, its perceived low morals, its mix of people – but a recent survey of these differences showed the contrasts to sharp effect. One of the strange omissions from that survey, however, was the ethnic make-up of London in comparison with the rest of the country – strange, because London is known for its multi-ethnicity and is seen now to be probably the most ethnically diverse city in the world.
Haroon (left, seated) with his wife, Amina (right, seated), with their sons Milad and Manni (behind Haroon) and nephews Abdullah, Owain and Hamza. His niece Homaira (centre), with her son Imaan and daughter Negeen, and family friend Live (far right).
This multi-ethnicity lies at the heart of Chris Steele-Perkins’ The New Londoners project: ‘The whole world is here in London, and it is the most multi-cultural, most ethnic city in the world,’ he says. And, as a migrant himself and someone of mixed parentage (he was born in Myanmar when it was still called Burma, and identifies as half-Burmese), he was aware of the complexity of identity, both for individuals and for people constantly questioning individuals about it. ‘The question I still continue to be asked is “Where are you from?”,’ Chris says, ‘which has often got the subtext that you don’t really belong here.’ And yet, quiet evidently, people increasingly do feel they belong here, and one of the distinctive characteristics of the capital is the apparent ease with which cultures and ethnicities exist alongside each other. A new kind of identity seemed to be emerging, a new kind of Londoner, and Chris set out to document it, attempting to take photographs in London of people from all the 195 countries recognised by the United Nations (UN).
He set out to do so with a number of common principles: the photographs would all be taken in the subjects’ households; they would be of families, however they interpreted the meaning of family; they would be formal photos; and they would be accompanied by the transcript of an interview between Chris and the subjects of the photos. The result is The New Londoners, which exists as a website, as a photobook (published by Dewi Lewis and on sale in our bookshop) and as an exhibition, in the Migration Museum until 27 May and at the British Library until 7 July. The book, which documents 164 families (collectively hailing from 187 countries) was to be published on the day that the UK was due to leave Europe (Friday 29 March); its launch took place instead on Thursday 4 April at the Migration Museum.
‘My own family is a pretty decent fit for the family profile – with my wife [Miyako Yamada, foreground] being Japanese, my half-brother [Thein Mynt, left] half-Australian and me [in the door-frame] half-Burmese – so fairly early on I thought I would include myself, but built around my brother rather than me: I’m tucked away at the back. My mum’s in the picture as well, a small tiny framed print in the foreground.’ Also in the photo are Chris’s son, Cedric, by the mirror; Thein’s wife, Jean Miller, on the sofa; their son, Lewin, behind the sofa, and his partner, Francis, kneeling beside it.
Having set himself the challenge of photographing people from every country in the world residing within the capital, Chris found that the concept of categorisation of countries presented some interesting questions. For one thing, some of the people he photographed identified themselves with countries – Kurdistan or Somaliland, for example – that have not been recognised by the UN. But there were other issues, too.
‘The idea had originally been to try to put together families from all the UN-recognised states, but I kind of gave that up as an idea because it seemed to be artificial,’ Chris explains. ‘I was intrigued to discover people from places like the Chagos Islands. They didn’t particularly want to be here. They hadn’t come of their own free will, as most migrants to Britain do. It’s a sad irony that they’re here, not because they’re trying to escape tyranny; it’s the opposite, they’re trying to get back to their homeland.’
Patrick Dowse, one of Chris’s assistants on The New Londoners, writes about his experience:
In the summer of 2015, as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed student photographer, I found out that Chris Steele-Perkins was looking for an assistant for a project. I leapt at the rare opportunity to work with someone with such a rich photographic history.
Coming from a relatively small town in the North-East of England, London was a huge culture shock, which was partly why I had wanted to study in this city; to be part of a team working on this project with Chris only added to the excitement – and working on this project was a brilliant way-in to learning about and meeting people from a huge range of cultures and countries.
By the time I started working with Chris the project had been underway for over a year, but there were still about 160 countries left to cover – a lot of work still to do.
I worked alongside a team of other assistants and researchers, tracking down the remaining families, often contacting embassies, local community groups, blogs and online groups, such as Facebook groups set up for those living in London from different countries.
Social media such as Facebook were invaluable to me – I could use them to connect with those we had still yet to cover in the book: for example, I was able to contact someone from Tajikistan through a Facebook group set up to connect people from Tajikistan living in London and the UK.
We were welcomed into the homes of the families we photographed with open arms. As well as talking about that very British topic of the weather, we often had extensive conversations about their journey to the UK. And one thing I noticed was that, no matter which country we were photographing, no matter which part of the world they were from, we were always offered a cup of tea. That’s one thing that I noticed we all do in the UK when welcoming someone into our home.
Being given the rare chance to work on a project like this has taught us that we’re all the same as each other, no matter which country we’re from. Someone from every corner of the world has found London and now calls it their home. We all want the same thing: happiness, love and community. That’s all we’re after, whether we’re from the UK or Uganda, Venezuela or Vanuatu.
The impact on the project of the 2016 referendum
Chris began the project two years before Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. As the project widened, Chris came across people who had moved to London from all over the world for reasons as wide ranging as their countries of origins: work, study, love, curiosity. Some were asylum seekers and refugees, others students or people who had moved for their business. ‘These are the kind of ordinary, decent people who are getting by and doing stuff; [they represent] the exact opposite of the rhetoric that came out of the Leave campaigns,’ says Chris. ‘They are in all kinds of jobs, and in all kinds of work, and have all kinds of histories; not one of them strikes me as someone who’s just kind of sitting back and abusing benefits.’
Since that vote, many foreign nationals in the UK have spoken about a change in feeling, and now wonder what their futures hold, and whether they are still welcome. After the referendum, Chris says, there was a sense that people felt more vulnerable: most of the potential participants in the project who subsequently changed their minds about being involved did so in that ‘post-referendum era’.
Unlike the majority of England and Wales, London voted to remain part of the European Union in the 2016 referendum. Later in the summer of 2016 the newly elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, launched the #LondonIsOpen campaign, proclaiming: ‘London is the best city in the world. We are entrepreneurial, international and outward looking. London is known as a city full of creativity, a place where anything is possible. The key ingredient of our city’s success has been the flow of brilliant ideas and talent from across the globe. Our city is comfortable in its diversity, proud of its history and optimistic about its future. London is open.’
Gert Van de Meersch (left), from Belgium, with his wife, Atija Sulubito Puma (right), from Mozambique, with their daughter, Marcia, and son, Sander. Marcia was born in Mozambique and came to London when she was two.
‘All these things go against the rhetoric of the Brexiteers,’ says Steele-Perkins, who moved to the UK from Burma (now Myanmar) aged two. ‘I think it’s kind of pathetic sometimes, hearing this notion of British values and things like that, as if we’ve had some kind of static system, which is unchanged and suddenly it’s been threatened by people coming in. The whole history of this island has been people coming here due to wars, colonial movements, European movements and so on; what we’ve got now is a product of a process of continuous evolution, which will continue.’
At a time of renewed racism and xenophobia, Chris considers The New Londoners a historical document. That the British Library has taken it into its collection is significant for him, adding to ‘the sense of it belonging to the tradition of recording’ – recording what Chris feels is the ‘greatest political issue of our time: migration’.
The New Londoners exhibition is on in the Breathing Space café at the Migration Museum until Sunday 26 May and at the British Library until Sunday 7 July. From 12 June to 8 September, it will be on display at Somerset House, London, as part of the exhibition Kaleidoscope: Immigration and Modern Britain.
The photobook, The New Londoners, costs £35 and is published by Dewi Lewis and available in the Migration Museum’s bookshop.
