Ambiguous Journeys

Lis Rhodes
,
UK
,
2019
,
video
,
40'

There is very little protection for someone with little or nothing. Without proof of address, existence becomes difficult. A person with no papers — virtually defined as non-existent — is tolerated if their labour is so cheap that they can be held in a condition of forced debt. There is no ambiguity in the reasonable reasons for the journeys made by many — from conditions that are organised, imposed and untenable. War, poverty, unemployment move people. The danger is — as in Running Light — of ‘no papers’. Destitute with no papers — made stateless — a labour force is created that is excluded from any protection which may still exist in law. Is being illegal a condition in itself? How can being be illegal? But this is exploited by a global economy dependent on expendable labour. The distortions of corporate wealth and cheap labour are made to appear inevitable. They are not. The ambiguity is in the place of writing — the frozen window — drawn in ice. (Lis Rhodes)