Borders, Borderlands and Crossings - Blog #3

by Shireen Ikramullah Khan (Pakistan / Netherlands), Alumna of Multidisciplinary Residency, 2020 and Virtual Residency, 2021.

Art has the power to change governmental controversy and deliberation, because it has the power to change each of us. Public debate and sentiment can transform because of it. The contemporary art world is quick to engage with trending topics like migration, but it is up to us as creative composers to keep the conversation going. A question arises, can works of art provide an alternative critical way of thinking on migration, besides the current discourse of democratic entanglement? 

​The mixed media surfaces I have created along my pensive yet ruminative journey, reflect a portrayal of life’s journey of building emotional walls to protect the self, bridging connections with the past
and crossing geographic borders. These inform of explorations of personal and collective transitions and the construction of memory and identity. These abstract arrangements are expressed through mixed media where emerging lines and patterns resonate with the sensitive place of past itineraries. The visual expresses movement and fragmented time within the various formats meant to establish
boundaries and barriers consistent with an ancestral personal history of repression and resilience. A question arises, which ones can be conceptualized as permeable barriers and versus the hard margins?

How can artists and cultural workers critically relate to the effects of globalisation, such as the current migration crisis, gains added significance. At present, almost all cultural activities in European countries, the international programmes of theatres and cinemas, the translated books in the libraries and so on – are in one or other way involved with or affected by international collaborations between artists and cultural workers from different parts of the world. As an artist working abroad, one is inevitably confronted with questions arising from globalisation’s broken promises. The visual arts can be critical without evoking an articulated moral argument or narrative, solely by disrupting dominant discourse formation of any sort.

Borders, Borderlands and Crossings

A work-in-progress showing exploring the movement of precious metals, seeds, and humans across borders, both imagined and real.
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Join in to share your thoughts and reflections as L'AiR Arts four international alumni: 
Kunji Mark Ikeda (Canada), Shireen Ikramullah Khan (Netherlands), Mayumi Lashbrook (Canada) and Eric Lawrence Taylor (USA) connect for a 7-week multi-disciplinary virtual residency, culminating in a public work-in-progress showing.

Date: Saturday August 7th
Time: 11:00am MT / 1:00pm ET / 7:00pm CEST
Location: Online through Zoom, FREE!
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For more information and to register click here.