Visualising the hostile environment: Creative studies of family immigration and separation

Agusita, Emma

Abstract

In this talk, Dr Emma Agusita discusses her research work that uses creative digital methods to explore people’s experiences of encountering UK family immigration regulations that result in prolonged periods of separation from their partners and families. Using creative approaches, including digital illustration and documentary film, Emma has worked on a series of collaborative research projects with affected partners and families. These research activities produced visual works which reveal the challenges posed by family immigration rules and the distressing impacts of cross-border separation, within the context of a hostile environment for immigration. A core theme of these critical creative studies has been to unsettle and to disrupt institutional and normative framing and positioning of migrants and their families.

Emma’s recent project, with researcher and video artist Dr Katie Davies, produced a short documentary film, Divided by Law. Captured just before and during the Coronavirus outbreak and in the lead up to Brexit, the film reveals personal accounts of participant’s experiences of the UK’s Home Office spouse visa application process and of separation from their loved ones. The film won an award at the prestigious (67th) Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Germany in May 2021 and has been screened at a number of film festivals and events in the UK and Europe. It was shown at London Short Film Festival in January 2022.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: Research Seminar Series – Disruption in the Creative Industries.
• Start Date: Feb 2, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 2, 2022
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2022
• Keywords: Hostile environments, Family immigration, Immigration, Family separation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10140997
• Related Public URLs: https://bcmcr.org/event/disruption-in-the-creative-industries/