Art, Borders and Belonging

Over the past few decades it has been noted that a growing number of artists are migrating for better job opportunities and to also experience different cultures. For some, their migration is a forced displacement caused by political, religious or military confrontations. Art, Borders and Belonging examines how the concepts of 'home', 'migration' and 'belonging' can be used to contextualise contemporary art practices and visual culture. It is centrally concerned with artists' experiences of borders (both physical and psychological), locations and narrations of homeland (both 'lost' and existing). Taking its lead from Hamid Naficy's statement in Home, Exile, Homeland (1999) that exile 'thrives on detail, specificity, and locality', this volume investigates how the three associated concepts (house, home and homeland) are represented in contemporary global art. It also interrogates how the act of representing homeland (real or imagined) serves as a reminder of exile and constructs a politicised action of questioning and challenging issues on culture, borders, history, citizenship, identity, displacement and belonging. It enquires into how the idea of homeland - real or imagined - is represented in visual works and investigates how the usage of images can challenge the concept of homeland through an interdisciplinary analysis of exile and belonging. In considering such imagery, this book shows how these visual works serve as a reminder of exile and explores the ways in which politicised narrations of home emerge as visual interventions in history, migration and the politics of belonging.