White Flag project that is tackling global division and the “growing fear of the stranger”

Date
27 June 2017

Following World Refugee Day on 20 June, Who is? Project is an ongoing art exhibition which aims to tackle issues around immigration systems and globalisation. 

Founded by Iman Tajik and Jonas Jessen Hansen, Who is? has been created as a space for open conversation surrounding the current European migrant crisis. Symbolised by a white flag embellished with the words “Who are they? Who are we?”, the profound display of artworks will speak about the invisible borders that the human race have managed to create throughout history. A year after the EU referendum, the flags will act as a catalyst to discuss global division and the “growing fear of the stranger”.

Iman and Jonas stand as two artists who have continuously worked on global issues. Alongside Who is? Project, an exhibition will take place at the Civic Room in Glasgow as part of the Scottish Refugee Festival 2017. For this exhibition, Iman created multiple videos depicting everyday life obscured by water — which is his way of symbolising and expressing his views on the ever-growing European migrant crisis. Jonas has additionally gathered interviews from both volunteers and asylum seekers who have fled such traumas and are now painfully waiting in a state of limbo. Their current project, Who is?, is an extension of this work and will become the start of a human chain that represents solidarity from around the world. “Dividing the society into ‘us and them’ will create problems,” says Iman and Jonas, “when right from the start, society places immigrants and second-generation immigrants as not being part of the community. We are all people. We have bodies and minds, 10 fingers and 10 toes, but we’re all different, and the fact that we are, is what creates a enriched and multicultural society”.

The Who is? Project will be a public exploration situated in 14 places around Europe, including: Fotografisk Center, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Civic Room, lokal_30, Galleri Format, 2B Galéria, INDA Gallery,Brass’Art Digitaal, NOASS, Tirana Art Center, London Gallery West (University of Westminster), Camphill Gate, The Ubiquitous Chip, GoMA.

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Iman Tajik and Jonas Jessen Hansen: Who Is? Project

Above

Iman Tajik and Jonas Jessen Hansen: Who Is? Project

Above

Iman Tajik and Jonas Jessen Hansen: Who Is? Project

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About the Author

Ayla Angelos

Ayla is a London-based freelance writer, editor and consultant specialising in art, photography, design and culture. After joining It’s Nice That in 2017 as editorial assistant, she was interim online editor in 2022/2023 and continues to work with us on a freelance basis. She has written for i-D, Dazed, AnOther, WePresent, Port, Elephant and more, and she is also the managing editor of design magazine Anima. 

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