Inspired by the dehumanising and demonising imagery that first came out of Guantanamo my work does not seek to monumentalize the historical fact of the Guantanamo camps, but to explore three notions of home: The naval base at Guantanamo, home to the American community and of which the prison camps are just a part; the complex of camps where the detainees have been held; and the homes, new and old, where the former detainees now find themselves trying to rebuild their lives.
The work’s disjointed narrative aims to convey the sense of disorientation and dislocation central to the daily experience of incarceration at Guantanamo, and to explore the legacy of disturbance such experiences have in the minds and memories of these men, as the viewer is asked to jump from prison camp detail to domestic still life, from life outside to the naval base and back again; from light to dark.
My talk will present photographs and documents from my book 'Guantanamo: If The Light Goes Out' and the multimedia piece 'Section 4 Part 20: One Day on Saturday' to illustrate how the representation of non-human things can engage with wider notions of humanity and shared experience, and revolutionise media and propaganda driven stereotypes of 'The Other'.
