Art can uniquely tell the stories of migration in a way that politics cannot. In ‘Look Again: Strangers’ by Tate Publishing, award-winning journalist and writer Ismail Einashe examines works from Britain’s national collection of art and offers an exploration of themes of migration and belonging – and the plight of finding shelter in a foreign land. Embarking on dangerous journeys to flee violence and persecution, migrants and refugees arrive on the shores of Europe to seek help and hope. However, there they become scapegoats, vilified by anti-immigrant rhetoric. Examining the work of artists like Tania Bruguera, Arshile Gorky, Lubaina Himid, and Mona Hatoum,’ Look Again: Strangers’ challenges this narrative. It sidesteps the dehumanising language in political depictions of migrants, offering a deeper insight into the struggles and humanity of these strangers. Join us for the launch of this book, which is part of Tate Publishing’s critically acclaimed ‘Look Again’ series. Ismail Einashe will be in conversation with Gabriella Adèr, a podcaster and journalist at NRC.
Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing this evening.
About the programme
Ismail Einashe will be in conversation on the themes of his book with Gabriella Adèr. Together, they will explore the transformative power of art in reshaping the perception of migrants. The speakers will discuss the need to move away from the often negative and stereotypical portrayal of migrants in media and politics and instead emphasise their humanity. As Einashe argues in ‘Strangers,’ art has the potential to fill the gaps where politics and media have failed and allow us to see the migrant experience through a more humane and ethical lens.
About the speakers
Ismail Einashe is an award-winning journalist and writer. He has written for The Guardian, BBC News, The Sunday Times, Foreign Policy, El Mundo, The New York Times, Internazionale, ArtReview, Frieze and The Nation, among many others. He is the author of the book Strangers by Tate Publishing, which explores migration through the lens of art. He co-edited the volume Lost in Media: Migrant Perspectives and the Public Sphere, a collection of essays on the representations of migrants and refugees in the European media. He is a member of Lost in Europe, a cross-border journalism project which investigates the disappearance of child migrants in Europe. In 2021, he won the inaugural Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) Impact Award as part of the Lost in Europe team. In 2019, he won a Migration Media Award, and in 2020, he was shortlisted for the European Press Prize. In 2019, he won the Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, America’s oldest journalism fellowship, for his year-long project examining China’s role in Africa. He is also an Ochberg Fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University and a member of the editorial board of Tate Etc., the magazine of the Tate Galleries.
Gabriella Adèr is a Dutch podcast and documentary maker based in Rotterdam. She currently works for the Dutch NRC Mediahuis, where she presents the daily podcast and produces various series, among other things. She previously worked for the Dutch public broadcaster and for various Dutch and Flemish production houses. Last year, she made the podcast ‘The Beautiful Migration’ and ‘Everything That Came After” (VPRO, 2023). Her personal family history places the consequences of migration in a new perspective and makes them tangible.
