COMMUNITY KITES
2016 CALAIS / 2026 SWANSEA
We are delighted that “Community Kites” are currently exhibited in “ART IN THE SKY” at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea curated by Isabel Griffin
19.06.26 - 27.09.26
The origins of these 9 tiny kites are best described by the following text, edited from Art Refuge’s original Blog post from ‘The Jungle’ camp in Calais, 22.04.16:
THURSDAY
We were once again struck by the challenges of location & structure of the Mêdecins du Monde psychosocial area which sits in the the camp’s south at the road’s edge, doors open to the spacious tent but fenced off to the ‘wasteland’. Throughout the 5 hr session the space was mostly visited by Afghani men & teenage boys newly arrived to Calais, as well as some young men from Sudan. Kite-making, marking routes on the large map & images of home, dominated the session.
Several men communicated fragments of their journey, such as the terrifying boat trip from Libya, one man describing being in water for hours before being rescued. The map & mapping once again offered a valuable tool for marking out these journeys at people’s own pace, some spending hours in the space before making anything at all. A kite made out of a map of France flew beautifully until crashing back onto the ‘wasteland’.
FRIDAY
Many people from yesterday joined the @hummingbird.refugee.project space. This was a session for literally tying & untying knots. Kite making & attempts at flying were today’s main themes, complicated by spiralling winds, making a sustained soaring flight into the sky hard, but not impossible, to achieve…
Today’s kites made from road maps were the main activity led by men from Iran and Afghanistan – competitiveness giving way to collaboration. Small kites proved to work better whilst the larger kites got heavier – taped down, & struggling to fly much above the ground. The process of making involved building, cooperation, & absorption…
At the end of the day two boys joined us, one managing to fly a two stringed kite with skill & patience, their father looking on.”
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