Migrational Ventures
Project Type:
2018 Master Degree Thesis Project
Location:
106 Commercial Street, London
Designer:
Derek Lee
This project investigates the significance of art as an effective channel to tell stories of immigration and represents how artists, with challenging migrational backgrounds are deeply affected by this in the way they make their art. In the main body of the building my mixed media immersive installations present contextual narratives of the four selected artists of distinct backgrounds within defined galleries, each representing their memories and the impact of migration. The route of the exhibition is self-determined, yet curated entrance and exit sequences ensure that the visitors complete their journey with a renewed realisation and inspiration of artists' migrational experiences.
Exhibition-goers don't often realise the emotional depth behind celebrated art works, many of which heavily influenced by their migrational experiences, whether they are traumatic, nostalgic, liberating, or miserable. This important element is often discussed in the categorisation of ethnicity, as if migrational experiences are only race-induced. This approach fails to recognise migration as a deeply universal experience and is detrimental to an international, culturally-rich city like London. During my years interacting with street artists in New York, I came to a realisation that they are not merely art makers, but true humans with voices and stories to tell, and this exhibition aims to do just that.
By transforming the artists' inspiration of their works - their migration stories - into immersive experiences in the form of mixed media installations, my design draws attention away from the aesthetics and materiality of their works to them as migrants in London. The designed experiences act as a time machine that leads visitors through the artists' displacement processes and evokes an emotional journeys corresponding to each artists' unique history. After the exhibition, visitors will gain a new tool to rethink and re-appreciate art work and artists from various backgrounds, while questioning the norm of categorising migrants with colours.
