Refugees at the Imperial War Museum: a virtual round table
Refugees is a season of exhibitions, installations and events taking place at IWM London and IWM North. The Refugees season explores displacement as a consequence of conflict; it ‘examines people’s journeys to find safety and the challenges of trying to rebuild their lives elsewhere.’ Taking place at IWM London are the Refugees: Forced to Flee exhibition, the AI experiment A Face to Open Doors, the immersive film installation Life in a Camp, and Ai Weiwei’s History of Bombs. The exhibition Aid Workers: Ethics Under Fire is on display at IWM North in Manchester. Initially delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and closed during the winter lockdown, IWM’s Refugees season will continue until the 31st May 2021.
Drawing together the perspectives of researchers, practitioners, and those with lived experience of displacement, our virtual roundtable seeks to engage with and reflect upon the scope and aims of the IWM’s Refugees season, its historical remit and comparisons, its artistic and curatorial choices, and its specific exhibits. The roundtable has been coordinated by our co-editors Juliette Frontier and Hari Reed.
We’ll be publishing a different perspective on the Forced to Flee exhibition each day for the rest of the week. On Tuesday, Hari Reed starts us off with a reflection on the emotional experience of visiting the exhibition. On Wednesday, E.E. writes about what it does and doesn’t cover, from her perspective as a refugee in the asylum system in the UK. On Thursday, Lisa Matthews of Right to Remain praises the exhibition’s nuanced presentation of community responses to refugees but questions its focus on conflict. And on Friday, Juliette Frontier closes the round table by assessing how the curators managed the tension between providing a space for refugees to be storytellers, on the one hand, and presenting cutting-edge academic research, on the other.
Please join in the discussion, in the comments or on Twitter (@RefugeeHistory)!
With thanks to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS UK) for their support in publishing this virtual round table. All photographs by Refugee History. The image accompanying today’s post shows the exhibition signs displayed on the fence in front of the IWM building.
