About the project
Who is? Project is an ongoing art project which aims to tackle issues around immigration systems and globalisation. Symbolised by a white flag embellished with the words “Who are they? Who are we?”, this project is a comment on the many invisible borders created through history. The flag was first exhibited on World Refugee Day on the 20th of June 2017, a day dedicated to raising awareness of refugees around the world. Since then the flag has been exhibited in more than 17 different places – mainly around Europe, but with a few places elsewhere, with venues like Hamburger Kunsthalle (Germany), Gallery of Modern Art (Scotland), Galleri Format (Norway) and 2B Galéria (Hungary) haven previously taken part.
Against the backdrop of the EU referendum, the US election outcome and the current rise of nationalism happening around the world, it is our hope that the flag will act as a catalyst to discuss division and the growing fear of the stranger. The stranger is an ambivalent character. They are neither neighbour nor alien, but both, simultaneously. Close foreigners and foreign neighbours. Alien fear is a product of the stranger’s incongruous character and life is marked by the struggle to reduce alienation. People are bombarded with new impressions and social life has become more and more ritualistic, and when fellow citizens and establishments increasingly act out of self-interest, the result is social distance – hiding behind human made borders, both physical and invisible.
Founded by Iman Tajik and Jonas Jessen Hansen, Who is? Project has been created as a space for open conversation surrounding the current migrant crisis and the rise of nationalism. Iman and Jonas stand as two artists who have continuously worked on global issues.
Iman Tajikis an Iranian artist and photographer based in Glasgow, Scotland. His work is anchored in a strong social interest and demonstrates an effort to make work that is a critical tool connected to international movements for social change. Tajik’s work addresses issues of contemporary conditions of life with a particular focus on migration and globalisation – thereby bridging the gap between art and activism, to create work as a form of socio-political currency, addressing power structures.
He makes installation, video, photography, and performance, also public engagement art, through these mediums, he ’performs the border’. This inspires by personal experiences of crossing geographical borders and socio-political barriers to insist on the right to freedom of movement. Tajik spotlights and stresses the need for resistance towards barriers and boundaries that are implemented socially and politically in favor of some but not all. A contribution towards bridging the divide between self and other is paramount to Tajik’s practice.
– A to B by Iman Tajik
Jonas Jessen Hansenis a multimedia artist who works across film, installation and photography, (b.1991 in Denmark) lives and works in Dunedin, New Zealand. His practice is rooted in the real world. With a conceptual and abstract approach, his works explore a curiosity about what it means to be happy, successful and beautiful; what it means to fit into society and be accepted, what it means to stand out from the crowd and be our own person. Dealing with today’s urban culture, he sets up certain relationships between concealment and display, anonymity and identity.
-Liquid Landscapes by Jonas Jessen Hansen
Sponsors
Deveron Projects is an arts organisation based in Huntly, a market town in the north east of Scotland with a population of 4,500. There they have worked here with the history, context and identity of the town since 1995. Working with the idea that the town is the venue, they create socially engaged projects that connect artists, communities and places. Deveron Project has been sponsoring Who is? Project since 2018.
Red Dragon Flagmakers is one of the few remaining businesses worldwide which sews flags in the traditional way – piece by piece. We are proud to be a British company manufacturing 100% in the UK and we are the only social enterprise Flagmaker in the world. Our portfolio includes flags for the armed forces, film and TV companies, churches, corporate, public sector, sport, charity and private commissions and we train skills for rehabilitation and sustainable employment in our local community, keeping the tradition of manufacturing alive in South Wales. We cut, make and sew our flags professionally and to the highest of standards and we are delighted to sponsor Who is? Project, @reddragonmfg”