By Maryssa Cook-Obregón – MA Fashion Futures, London College of Fashion
The Melilla border fence forms part of the Morocco–Spain border in the area of Melilla.
On the 21st of February, the Passagens series held its fourth session at the London College of Communication (LCC). The discussion was facilitated by Professor Lucy Orta, who is Chair of Art in the Environment at the London College of Fashion (LCF) and part of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, which is a research centre based at LCF.
In the spirit of this series that examines migration, the session started with the screening of a film that documents the first-hand experience of African migrants who have made many attempts to scale border walls to enter Europe in the hopes of finding a better future. Camilla Palestra, Associate Curator at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, was also present at the screening and provided some insightful background on the ideation and production processes for the documentary. Camilla was also able to contextualize the success the film has had since it was released and how the everyday realities that it shows of migration have become increasingly relevant with audiences in Europe.
After the film ended, Lucy led the discussion with a diverse group of UAL postgraduate students. The students who attended were from various courses within the UAL colleges, ranging from photography to textile design to marketing. While some of these students were incorporating the theme of movement and migration into their academic work, there were others attended who the reading group because of their interest in learning more about the changing nature of migration in the 21st century.
The walls in the film, which was the theme for this session, was a point Lucy brought up to begin the discussion. Students talked about how political, social, and ideological walls could be as much of an obstruction to migration as physical walls. Making reference to the UK vote to leave the EU, Lucy asked students for their thoughts on the shifting attitudes across Europe and the US on migration. One student shared their experience of working in Calais, France and how the migrant situation there very much paralleled what they had just seen in the documentary.
The session continued with the group discussing the importance of film to inform public opinion. Some students believed that even if these kinds of films do not become mainstream, they are nonetheless valuable as they help audiences see migrants as human beings. They added that the categorization of people as ‘migrants’ can disconnect us from other humans and films like this can break down the walls that prevent us from connecting with another person’s totally different life.
At the end of the session, the participants pondered what could be done to resolve the migration crises that can be found around many of the EU’s borders. While no one could provide a single or simple solution, one thing was agreed upon; an ongoing discussion about what is currently happening with migration and trying to learn about the issue in a large-scale way will be at the root any viable solution.
- Written by Maryssa Cook-Obregón who is the Spring Term Postgraduate Community College Ambassador at London College of Fashion.
About Passagens:
With the aim of interrogating dialogues about a cross-disciplinary subject Passagens (a Postgraduate Community Reading Group) is a response to increased anxiety amongst students at UAL, to address the meaning and the issues surrounding the act of migration. Passagens takes its meaning from the linguistic variables of the Portuguese ‘passagem’, which implies a number of different journeys: from one period in life to another, from one country, language culture and conviction to another, from being home to being a foreigner, from student to professional, child to teenager to adult, but also from one geological epoch to another, and allows for diverse perspectives to interweave.
This event was the forth in a series of four events, organised by Lucy Orta, Professor of Art and the Environment, in collaboration with Centre for Sustainable Fashion Associate Curator Camilla Palestra, and is supported by the UAL Postgraduate Community.
Missed one/all of the previous Passagens Reading Group Sessions? Don’t worry you can catch up on what you have missed by reading the student event reports!
Click here for the Passagens Reports on the PG Blog