Disoriented Belonging
Invited to create artwork reflecting on experiences of forced displacement, I chose to draw from my own experience of moving homes eight times within the first three months of arriving in the UK.
Although I came to the UK by choice, to study, and had access to resources and the option to return home, the constant upheaval was deeply unsettling and chaotic. This personal experience led me to reflect on the far more precarious realities faced by people seeking asylum in the UK - individuals often forced into similar or worse instability, but without the safety nets I had.
Asylum seekers are typically placed in temporary accommodation and frequently moved from one location to another, often with no warning and no information about what comes next. This stage of waiting - sometimes lasting months, even years - forces people to live in a constant state of stress, uncertainty and ongoing displacement.
My project aims to draw attention to the ideas of stability, home, and belonging, and the toll that their absence can take on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. Through collages combining images from the many houses I lived in upon arriving in the UK, I attempt to recreate the disorientation and disarray I felt - feelings that, for countless asylum seekers, are part of everyday life.