Isaac Julien, Western Union: Small Boats (2007) — Art and Migration Virtual Exhibition Tour

Isaac Julien (Born 1960 in London)
Western Union: Small Boats, 2007
Three-channel video installation, 35mm film transferred to HD video (color,
5.1 surround sound; 18:22 minutes)
Dimensions variable
Courtesy the artist; Victoria Miro, London; and Metro Pictures, New York

The three-channel video installation, Western Union: Small Boats, was filmed on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the western Mediterranean Sea.

The island sits between Tunisia and Sicily and is an important location for those seeking passage to southern Europe from North Africa. Alluding to global histories of empire, slavery, and colonialism, Isaac Julien’s film looks to the sea for its central motif.

According to the artist, the Mediterranean is “a space that is between east and west, north and south, Europe and Africa. It’s a contact zone that has a number of different markings, a number of traumas, that are very much still present.”

new.artsmia.org/when-home-wont-let-you-stay-art-and-migration/