shoreditch art galleries british artists london gallery modern

“Between Worlds”

Senayt Samuel.

from 4^th to 26^th November 2004.

Are London Contemporary Art Galleries Racist?

It is a disturbing fact that seeing images of and by Black people in London galleries is a rare experience. Yet Black people are major contributors to the Arts and Culture throughout London and worldwide. From the West End to the so called “cutting edge” side streets of the East End, the galleries preach to the converted, a predominantly White mainstream art culture perpetuating its own self-interest and missing/avoiding the opportunity for a broader dialogue. The result is the Institutional marginalization of Blacks and other cultures, a discreet form of Racism.

Things have moved on since the YBA’s of the Nineties. Art for the few simply isn’t enough anymore. London is full of Contemporary artists from all over the World, a Contemporary multicultural society and it is time the mainstream began to celebrate its diversity and realise its pluralism.

Senayt Samuel was born in Eritrea, raised in Ethiopia and America, now living in London. She creates photographic portraits of fellow immigrants and political asylum seekers of the Diaspora. Her portraits reach into the soul of her sitters helping us the viewer to realise the nature of human beings stranded in a strange land and trying to survive in a complex world.

These portraits from her “Between Worlds” project at 340 Old Street are not disturbing images of immigration, or are they? As is often the case in London they are not cleverly ironic allowing us to dismiss their content. No, these portraits by their clarity and direct empathy draw you in and involve us, the predominantly White, to realise our common humanity with these sitters, the problems they face and the issues we should not ignore. For Black people it is a recognition of their dignity in the face of adversity.

Senayt Samuel writes:

Drawing from personal experience “Between Worlds” examines the idea of being caught between two familiar places without having the ability to reach either destination. Being born in Eritrea, raised in Ethiopia and America now living in London, my mixed background continually shapes my photographs. My images are participatory interpretations of my life as an Eritrean/American in Diaspora.

I often ask myself what does a photograph mean? How do photographs shape our memories? How do they construct our identity? I imagine transparent faces that lose their lineament in the light that shines within them, shadows that describe and obscure identity at the same time. I photograph in an attempt to understand my self and the culture that influence us and shape our experiences. Through photographing people from my homeland, I have accepted that displacement from my culture includes a feeling of loss.

The project attempts to uncover layers of meanings working to dissolve boundaries and borders fixed by the traditional space. Project “Between Worlds” investigates the gap between the realistic experience and the unrealistic ideals we face as immigrants. It is a biographical photographic project of Ethiopians and Eritreans who have come to London for very different reasons, economic and political. It features a series of close up portraits of friends, family members and strangers of the Diaspora. For this project they share stories about their past, present and their views on identity, immigrant experience, displacement and the difficulties they face in their new home. It explores identity in transition, reconstruction and displacement. It also provides an insight into some of the personal experience they face as immigrants.

TERRY DUFFY 2004.