Isle of Portland, Dorset, July 31, 2024
Last Wednesday, on a beautiful calm summer’s day, we had the opportunity to join an art workshop in a local community centre on the Isle of Portland. This was for men housed on the infamous and controversial floating barge the Bibby Stockholm, anchored inside nearby Portland Harbour and housing just short of 500 men seeking asylum in the UK. Shuttle buses, which are the only means of leaving and returning to the barge, take men from the harbour to and from the locality.
A lovely initiative, the weekly art workshop is run by local artists and volunteers and funded by @artwey_cic.
@antjerooktextiles - one of the lead artists alongside @stephen_yates_artist - is committed to offering humanising spaces and opportunities to the men, liking the idea of offering the opportunity to express themselves through creativity, because it is non verbal and can overcome language barriers. We were impressed by the warmth between the group of young and older men we met - from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan… - and local people, built up over the weeks, a vital antidote to the harshness of life on the boat, where we heard first hand how conditions are cramped and prison-like, and where mental ill health has been widely reported.
For Art Refuge this was a valuable opportunity to witness another project, share some of our thinking and ideas - such as the use of the large World Map, View Masters and world postcards - and get a sense of men’s experience of being housed in this very challenging setting.
The Bibby Stockholm is due to be decommissioned by the new Labour government in January 2025 when the current contract ends, due to extortionate costs (£20 million per year), unworkable and wasted resources. Local projects such as the weekly art workshop will be vital to sustain those housed on this floating asylum accommodation until that point - over the summer, autumn and early winter months.
Words by Bobby Lloyd & Miriam Usiskin.
With thanks to the #kingbaudouin fund.
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