What role does photography play in our understanding of the migration crisis?

According to the UN refugee agency, at the end of 2019 there were 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. These millions of people have fled their homes due to reasons including conflict, economic and political instability and, increasingly, climate change.

In an era where borders, globalisation and the movement of people features so heavily in social and political discourse and decision making—with migration in particular regularly harnessed for cynical political means—how do images inform the ways in which we understand the global migration crisis, and how might we undertake to understand, let alone solve, a problem of such a grand and global scale?

The panel:

Zoe Harrison - Head of Production at 1854 Media Studios, home of British Journal of Photography

Kadir van Lohuizen - Photographer best known for his long term projects, the seven rivers of the world, the rising sea levels, the diamond industry and migration in the Americas

Debbie Lisle - Professor of International Relations, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queens University Belfast

Biographies:

Zoe Harrison - A Northern Irish producer, artist, and contemporary photographer based in London. She is currently working as Head of Production at 1854 Studio, having worked for clients such as CALM, Wateraid, MPB.

Kadir van Lohuizen (The Netherlands, 1963) has covered conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, but is probably best known for his long-term projects on the seven rivers of the world, the rising of sea levels, the diamond industry and migration in the Americas. He started to work as a professional freelance photojournalist in 1988 covering the Intifada. In the years following, he worked in many conflict areas in Africa, such as Angola, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Liberia and the DR of Congo. From 1990 to 1994 he covered the transition in South Africa from apartheid to democracy. In 2018, Kadir van Lohuizen and Yuri Kozyrev were the laureates of the 9th Prix Carmignac for Photojournalism, where they undertook a year long expedition through the Arctic, documenting the consequences of the climate crisis. Kadir is a frequent lecturer and photography teacher and is based in Amsterdam.
Debbie Lisle is a Professor of International Relations in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast. Her work explores the intersections of war, mobility, borders, security, technology, culture, materiality and visuality. She is interested in uncovering how global politics lurk in unexpected sites (e.g. museums, hotels, laboratories), and how unexpected counter-conducts flourish in highly securitized sites (e.g. border crossings; airports; battlefields). She is currently working on a project about failure, endurance and collapse.

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