A RESPONSE to the way the UK Home office “dehumanises” people has been created by Iranian-born artist Paria Goodarzi, who is now based in Glasgow.
It reflects her personal experience of the British citizenship process and is part of the Alternative Degree Show Festival being staged by Gasgow School of Art (GSA) graduates.
Her artwork, The Redistribution Of Memory, features five golden cages in golden barbed wires which hold woven balls made from the shredded letters she received. The backdrop shows a video of her creating each ball, which took two hours for each one.
READ MORE: 'Five years after winning battle with Home Office, we're marked by Westminster'
“The Redistribution Of Memory sheds light on the daily struggle of the immigration process in democratic society today,” she said. “This work is a response to my personal experience of the British citizenship process, as well as my political relationship to the state over the past five years.”
Running in two parts from now until July 21, the festival is being staged as a physical event in venues across Glasgow to celebrate the work of the graduating students who have faced many challenges to their studies during the coronavirus pandemic. Strict Covid-19 safety measures are being put in place at the venues to manage safety.
GSA director Professor Penny Macbeth said the city’s cultural economy, its artists and venues, had a key role to play in the city’s post-Covid social and economic recovery.
She added: “Glasgow School of Art graduates played a key role in Glasgow’s cultural-led post-industrial renaissance in the 1980s and it is wonderful to see our most recent graduates taking on a similar role, working in partnership with venues and spaces across the city and playing an important part in the city’s cultural restart.”
Graduating student Caitlin Callaghan said the pandemic had had a “huge effect” on the students’ work but they were determined to have a physical showcase of it in a way that would be safe for all those involved.
She said it was decided to make it into a festival to involve the wider Glasgow community as well as showcase the “amazing” venues across the city.
“As artists we thrive in showing our work physically and engaging with the public, and this festival aims to do just that,” she said.
“We knew we were taking a risk planning something so ambitious in the current circumstances, but the help and support we have received has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Free tickets can be booked at www.thealternativedegreeshowfestival.com
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