Call Me by My Name: Stories from Calais and Beyond

Interesting exhibition at the Migration Museum looking at the Calais Jungle and the issues which led to its creation.

The first section looked at people’s journeys to the camp with excellent photographs by Daniel Castro Garcia and Christian Sinibaldi particularly one of broken boats as a metaphor for broken people. I loved a gauze sheet covered in paper boats by Bern O’Donoghue and called “Dead Reckoning”.

The next section looked at identity and talked about how people in the camp saw themselves and what they chose to show or keep hidden. I liked a sculpture of lots of little figures in a wide procession called “Wanderers” by Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen.

The last section looked at the camp itself and the community which grew up there. The commentary said it’s format was like any other town but the population was overwhelmingly young males. Again there were great photograph but again the commentary points out that camera were often viewed with suspicion. I loved a section on “Jungle Books” a library which was set up by community leaders form Afghanistan which offered English lessons.

The exhibition was well set up and imaginative for what is a temporary space.

Closes on 20 August 2017

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