UNDERPASS IV | Borders by Underpass Mag

UNDERPASS iv

‘borders’

JAMES BARRETT / ISSY MITCHELL / ALEKSANDRA SZYMCZYK / AIDAN FRERE-SMITH / BENJAMIN LUBBOCK/ JADE MONTSERRAT / AL SIMMONS/ JOSH CHAPMAN / MONA CORDES / IQRA HUSSAIN / UMAR MAKDA / MARCIA X / UNDERPASS MAG/ NORWICH, UK

Cover and In-leaf: James Barrett

Â© Issy Mitchell

This issue of UNDERPASS marks a new change and comes with a certain sadness. Many contributors, readers and admirers of UNDERPASS will now be graduating university, entering a new job, or moving onto the next chapter of their life and I hope these new roads will somehow find themselves connected on the following pages. It has been an immense journey so far, curating and getting in touch with talented visionaries who possess the will to share. ‘Borders’ is an issue that directly addresses the media’s coverage and understanding of immigration, geographical politics and how one goes about articulating the self. Initial coverage of Calais, Syria, and Brexit I found to be sub-par and insulting. Not only was the journalism dismissive and elementary, discussions ignited a series of xenophobic attacks—online and in real life; none of which were reported. People of colour like myself are at the cusp of these reports and what good is it when our lives or the lives of our brothers and sisters are subjected to capital critiques? For me, ‘Borders’ is not simply about the physical barrier, but extends itself more towards ideas, concepts, figures of speech that are inhibiting our ability to connect with each other and respect the differences that come along with being human. Editor-in-Chief / Candice Nembhard

Berlin, 2015, CN

After the Soviets and Germans invaded Poland in 1939, thousands of civilians from Eastern Poland were deported to Gulags (forced labour camps) in Siberia. Some of them managed to leave and ended up in refugee camps in Iran, Palestine, British Africa, India and even Mexico. In this series of collages I combined found photographs of above mentioned World War II refugees with more familiar images of the Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi civilians fleeing war in the recent years. Looking at the photographs, I found the similarities between them striking. With the right-wing government elected in Poland last year and anti-migrant sentiments on the rise, I want these images to remind people of not so distant history of my home country and highlight the irony of the widespread xenophobic attitudes.

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III

@underpassmag

20 I Remnant blood rattling in my tip-jar heart, hoping with a supplicant’s hollow hand for any offerings of spare-change sacrifices, or perhaps a little pity to provoke an introverted smile with which to warm these calloused fingers calloused by the absence of the strings of a guitar or a mandolin whose wordless voices would bring upon me, like a siren’s tongue wet in the ear, unwonted ecstasy for, more than the love lost and hate-deformed more than the death I know of no pain greater than the recollection of a happiness in a wretched time. II For I have seen and I have seen her the silent siren memory silenced by the passing of the past into another unknowing And I have seen her looking at me over another’s naked shoulder with a bitter-coloured iris, grey seas surrounding her black-whole longing And I have seen her as an anachronism, wearing the bodies of other lovers whose faces drown beneath her smiles And I have seen her idiosyncrasies glint amidst the horde of asylum strangers, the tantalization of a periphery to draw mine eye into the trap of a trick of it. Yes, I have seen her, yet I have not heard one word, though I know what we would say had silence not silenced us to the sound of a feather’s sigh falling forever through the sky, hoping one day to land into a supplicant’s hollow hand.

21 Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a second dawning in your dusk latent in an incandescence left too long, yes, too long gone lost in the labyrinth which writhes alive like living vines through which you seethe like a liquid opiate introvened into veins to vivify a life whose vision is otherwise black and white and nothing but and nothing but and nothing what? nothing but another forgetting yes, yet another forgetting of a memory forgot forgot for what? a happiness forgotten for a fear maybe of the dark or the death maybe of the meeting with maker of the web, or perhaps it is a fear of the sphere into which the children disappear only to return at setting hiding from your rising out of the ashes of a foreshadowed futurity spoken of by the prophet who only knows the language of echoes and which return to him by way of Chinese whispers so that they might deceive the old and by it blind our future-past with a hope-sown veil designed to wither the mind with a smile knowing that birth was worth the while and that there will be more at its antithesis knowing that there will be more more to life than any love could ever give, that the death-rattle you hear will harmonize with the turning of the wheel, knowing that knowing will never know an end and that there will be more at the end of yours knowing that there will be more

ÂŠ CKN

Still from film Josephine and the Leopard made with Webb-Ellis .

Jade Montserrat is an artist based in Scarborough, England. After her performance, ‘Shadowing Josephine’ — part of the British Art Show 2016 at Outpost Gallery in Norwich, UK— UNDERPASS had the chance to meet the artist in person and later discuss her influences for the ’Rainbow Tribe’ project.

It’s not often that one chances upon a performance that leaves a strong impression, but I was fortunate enough to chance upon Jade Montserrat's ‘Shadowing Josephine’ at Outpost gallery in Norwich. The performance yields as a apart of Montserrat's ‘Rainbow Tribe’ project that aims to look into radical forms of self expression. With Josephine Baker central to the project, Jade’s sexual frankness and endurance made for a fascinating watch. In a relatively small space, Montserrat commandeered the audience, with her naked frame and well rehearsed. re-

peated choreography to a rhythm that boomed heavy and bold . With only a snippet of the original three hour version, it was clear that her body transcended entertainment value and spoke directly to the history of black sexuality and its public profit. In an almost childlike fashion, Montserrat toyed with her audience, pushing herself and the viewers to the point of exhaustion. In Jade’s words: “I’m aware that I’ve got a black body, so it’s not so much my body shape, but people are buying into the commercial

** Edits have been made to ‘Shadowing Josephine’ post-publishing.

enterprise of their body. “ Jade’s body mimics the jangling limbs of an icon in a performance that can best be defined as self aware- a willingness to accept the consensual offering of a proud black woman. One need only look at a brief synopsis of Baker’s life to understand what truth is at the core of this performance. With post performance congratulations, Jade prompted a silent moment, to re-evaluate ourselves as more than bodies—as entities with stories. A definite must see.

“

”

ÂŠ CKN

www.jademontserrat.com

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We’re looking for submissions for issue #5:

‘melody’ DEADLINE: 27/12/2016

Submit to underpassmag@hotmail.com

————————-ISSUU.COM/UNDERPASSMAG—————————

UNDERPASS 39

The violence of borders exists in being told you are illegal—you are less of a person if you don’t have the right colour paper, the right colour of skin, you were not born under the right colour of scared cloth. The unwillingness for western states to take responsibility for the wars they have historically played a part in creating precedes the gates they close for those seeking refuge from the cruelty of these wars. The civil wars no one wants to be held accountable for created by borders, created by elites struggling for power and wealth. © Al Simmons

Borders are inherently violent. They are violent in their alienation and their exploitation. All of us who do not have the freedom to move safely and freely. Borders are a powerful weapon in inflicting suffering for so many. Those with privilege are made to believe it is a weapon for their own defence, an age old rhetoric that tells them they are for their own good. Little to nothing is said of the damage these weapons inflict; safety from the violence of borders comes at a price for a select few. We are made to believe that borders are created out of an inherent violence. That our ability to earn and live comfortably coincides with animosity and uncertainty.

There has been a rise in hate crime towards the victims of civil war; white skin allows you to move freely without persecution, to pass through borders and into safety by virtue of your privilege. The violence of the lies told to western citizens manifests itself in scapegoats and hate that leads to even more insidious forms of violence to those already traumatised and carrying the scars. Hate spewed towards people already suffering the trauma of war tarred with the same brush as the very tyrants they are fleeing. The fear that comes from with post traumatic stress, the fear of any loud noise, now manifested in a loud drunken slur laced with ignorance and hate.

‘Terrorism’ is used to scare people about the safety of borders. The violence perpetrated by others to distract from the violence they are complicit in inflicting upon others. Beyond the violence that exists through the struggle to create borders, the borders themselves become an act of oppressive violence.

The violence of borders exists within every xenophobe unwilling to permit refuge to those scarred by trauma created by their own state, so stupid and scared of what may happen if they took a moment to look beyond the lies of oppression they are fed to realise no one is illegal.

The physical violence of borders floods our screens all too often but not enough is said about the psychological violence of borders.

The money and power used by western states is the most oppressive and wide reaching form of violence, it is what creates the physical cruelty of war.

The violence of stripping away human rights and ability to feel empathy, the trauma on mental health— those told they are not wanted, not loved and they are not our problem.

Borders are a weapon wielded by capitalist states to leave scars on the psyche of innocent people. Structural violence affects us all outside of those who are born into money.

Capitalism and more particularly the predatory capitalism we see today, creates borders to control and steal, western states use borders to manipulate and thieve.

money could be made through structural violence, a line that gave the means for a powerful few to continue the violence in their own name.

The borders are invisible lines drawn in order to steal natural resources and sell them back to the nations they stole from to generate a profit in the name of their freedom and independence.

The borders that have been created to steal your resources, the borders created to force you into a sense of entitlement over land shared for thousands of years, the borders that tell you, you have no power to control the outcome of these actions.

Borders are a means to control, and a means to oppress for western gain we are told ended with colonialism.

Creating new fears in a place they were told they would be safe.

We are told colonialism ended with the drawing of these invisible arbitrary lines, that states would be created to create peace and prosperity, to end violence the gift of condition based freedom. When the truth of it is, two groups got tired of fighting and drew that invisible line realising more

Borders are created to instil fear and control in one way or another. Abolish national pride and abolish capitalism the only way we can ever all truly be free.

MARRAKESH, MOROCO

PREV: VENICE, ITALY

ESSAOUIRA, MOROCCO

MADINAH, SAUDI ARABIA

SURAT, INDIA

LONDON, ENGLAND

CANON 700-D CANON AE-1

MIDLANDS |@UMRIQR

This piece was inspired by Daisy Buchanan’s article ‘Depression is not a battle that can be won or lost’. Buchanan wrote this in response to Sally Brampton’s recent suicide which was dubbed as ‘losing her fight’ with depression. She explains, from a first hand experience, that referencing mental health as a battle can be dangerous as it portrays that you are either a winner or a loser. This limited perspective can be a dangerous outlook to others, as well as to yourself. She acknowledges it’s complex nature and that peace is not a permanent state. The article is concluded with ‘Everyday day that doesn’t feel like a struggle is worthy of celebration’, which was the fundamental inspiration for my piece. I felt this sentence was poetic and comes from a realistic but beautiful place. We, whether suffering from depression or not, are not perfect but we have to cherish those moments of peace and clarity. I chose to use ‘Everyday is worthy’ for my piece as I felt that it’s vague overtone gives an availability for the viewer to attach a personal element to it. Worthy of what? That is up to you.

| www.behance.net/aidanfreresmith |

To everyone who has made UNDERPASS possible. Thinking back on the very first launch party, in a poorly lit, cold church, I couldn't imagine we would be four issues deep. It is only through the love & support of the people in Norwich that I have been able to continue sharing the wonderful content you see before you. There is a sadness is saying that Norwich will no longer be my home. For three years it has been a base for creative hands to shake firmly and slowly the grip has loosened. My hope is for UNDERPASS to continue beyond Norwich, but never forgetting its origin. I guess my understanding is that UNDERPASS too must pass through borders; so we shall see you on the other side. All my love, Candice â&#x20AC;&#x201C;x-