MIGRATION
My name is JC Candanedo, UK-based Queer and Migrant Visual Artist, and this is my personal project Migration, in which Max Gershon and I combined photography and dance to investigate themes of displacement and restriction of movement. The session took place in London at a disused warehouse that is being used as a collaborative artistic space.
The building that houses the warehouse will be demolished soon and private housing will be built in its place. Artists from different disciplines use the warehouse to create inconspicuous works of art in the space, so that when the building is demolished by the developers, they do it without knowing what they have knocked down. This action tries to highlight how our communities and our history are being eroded by the new structures of capital, as they are made invisible and obscured by the rapid redevelopment of these areas.
Max explored the space with his body, moving around the building and sensing its vulnerability. The warehouse laid bare in front of us, defenceless, open and threatened, prompting us to ponder upon the difficulties faced by anyone who finds themselves in a situation where they are forced out of their homes, their home towns or even their countries, only to find borders shut closed in front of them as they try to seek refuge in a new land.
Once the building is torn down, it will be demolished containing the stories lived within its walls, the works of art commissioned for that purpose and the footprints that Max left behind while we were exploring the space. The only testimony that any of this existed will be these images and the memory of the experiences that we lived in the making of this work.
Shot at: Shane Bradford Studio
Artwork by: Lucas Dupuy
