Asylum Archive – review

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NCAD Gallery
Until January 3rd 2017
Monday-Friday, 1-5pm

This exhibition, created by visual artist and researcher Vukašin Nedeljković invites us in to view the harsh and disturbing reality of asylum seekers in Ireland. The exhibition conveys the difficult realities faced by asylum seekers in Direct Provision through various media including documents, audio, collected artefacts and photography. Vukašin Nedeljković draws on his own personal experience as an asylum seeker who lived in Direct Provision centres in Ireland from 2007-2009.

Through the large glass window of the NCAD Gallery one can see childrens old toys, displaced objects, and photographs of dark, impersonal settings. The pieces on display highlight the disturbing reality of institutionalised living, particularly within the Direct Provision system. The images in the exhibition focus on the material objects and infrastructures within the Direct Provision system, highlighting the bleakness of the situation faced by asylum seekers as they are placed in this state of limbo. Various childrens toys, such as a rocking horse, are displayed in glass boxes, reminding us of the hundreds of children who are living in these institutions. The exhibition forces the observer to look at the system as a whole, rather than individual asylum seekers. It foregrounds a visual aesthetic based around emptiness and absence; the images of empty rooms and isolated structures convey an atmosphere of unrest and coldness.

Asylum Archive is a deeply emotive exhibition, and a new reflective space in which we can contemplate and consider the experiences of those seeking asylum in Ireland. It allows us to reflect upon our political and social rights, as well as the inequalities which exist in the Irish State.

 

The Old Convent Direct Provision Centre, 2008, Vukašin Nedeljković
The Old Convent Direct Provision Centre, 2008, Vukašin Nedeljković

 

 

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