H is for Hostile Environment: New exhibition at UCL East!

Our latest exhibition H is for Hostile Environment explores the hostile environment, a collection of government policies which aimed to co-opt large parts of UK society into policing the UK’s borders – from doctors to landlords, employers, homeless services and more.

All of the artworks in the exhibition have been co-produced in close dialogue and collaboration with those who have first-hand experience of migration, as well as those who are actively challenging the Home Office’s policies.

Migrants, asylum seekers, and their advocates are envisioning alternative futures for Britain, actively wrestling with the hostile environment policy, and trying to find more just, if messy, answers to the question of who is welcome.

The exhibition features a film by artist Edwin Mingard and previous UCL researcher Keren Weitzberg. They conceived of the moving-image piece exploring migration and asylum seeking in east London as part of Trellis - a programme that cultivates opportunities for collaboration between artists, UCL researchers and east London communities.

Edwin and Keren saw it as a chance to work reciprocally with partners whose lives and work had been shaped by the UK’s border regime, providing a platform to tell a story with multiple voices and narratives. 

Alongside the film, Geneva Virasami, a UCL MA Public History student and journalist, offers a student perspective, reflecting on Edwin and Keren’s film in a political pamphlet.

Inside the cover designed by local refugee-led agency Migrants in Culture, we hear from UCL Action for Palestine and Newham Anti-Raids, and find poems by poets from BORN::FREE LDN. Geneva also interviews one of the collaborators in the film, Usman Khalid, who now runs a social enterprise that provides barista training to refugees, and the CEO of Migrateful, an organisation that runs cookery classes taught by refugees and migrants.

In an interview with Geneva, artist and filmmaker Edwin Mingard said: “People’s individual stories are important but for me it’s a collective story – a government introduces horrendous rules and then so many people in our communities are impacted by these regimes. But we are so lucky to be surrounded by all the different influences we have in London. […] Solidarity is the only way we can reach a better world.”

Book onto the launch event on Thursday 25^th July, 6-9pm. We will hear from Usman Khalid, who will share his experience working on the film and his journey to setting up his social enterprise, as well as selling his coffee beans on the night. There will also be a community meal by refugee-led cafe Plateful.

Open everyday 10-6pm and late night Wednesdays 6-8pm until Friday 9th August.

Book onto the launch event here. Open to all.