ArtAngel

Out of the Bin: Asylum-seeking lesbians find expression through art

Art and Design post by Kjerstin Johnson on January 14, 2010 - 3:05pm; tagged art, ArtAngel, homophobia, immigration, lesbians, performance artists, representation.
The recent Uganda death penalty bill for homosexuality has raised awareness of the inhumane treatment of LGBT people globally. The repercussions of rape, jail, and murder for expressing your sexuality are horrendous, but they sometimes make it easy to cast a blind eye to the way so-called first-world countries continue to foster homophobia, transphobia, and sexism. Gay women seeking asylum in the UK know all too well that homophobia does not stop at the border.
The character Bin from the project Staying. She is photographed from the waist up. She is tilting her head, her left arm is raised over her head, her hand drapes over her face. On the right side is a page from a journal filled with writing. More writing is written over the original essay and a drawing of container with a person inside is drawn over the writing as well, creating a chaotic but poetic visual.

Through a new art project with Artangel, an organization that sponsors interactive art projects, some of these woman are able to express the dehumanizing and difficult process of gaining asylum.
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