Already here (GIF)
- sonia e barrett
This work was created on the last anniversary of the Windrush. I wanted to mark the anniversary but could not find an open call or funding to do so. I created a GIF that was able to circulate internationally among the West-Indian diaspora independent of galleries and arts institutions.
This piece was extensively researched and key figures that were here before the Windrush in some cases centuries before were placed on the deck of the ship. When the GIFF is activated the ship rocks gently in the tide but the figures remain stationary. This is to call attention to the fact that they were already here and on those solid shores.
The history of coming and leaving Britain is picked up on with the red cross of the crusades which could also be read as the International Medical assistance of the red cross. The comings and goings of this particular vessel which has a Natzi past which once gave the ship the moto "Strength through joy". The Windrush generation is absented on this ship which is often shorthand for them. Instead the ship is loaded with webs of meanings that predate the Windrush generation and so provide a global international context for them. This context makes the Windrush generation all the more extraordinary.