Recent exciting update from the University of Manchester about the project book!

Here is the abstract. More details to follow…

With the rise of humanitarianism and the international refugee regime in the 20th century, visual representations of refugees and their forced displacement permeated the cultural sphere. Understanding Displacement Aesthetics offers a groundbreaking analysis of the role of visual culture, art and art museums in shaping ideas about people forced to flee. The book identifies the refugee as a cultural figure, analysing the history of visual tropes across multiple visual arenas and their endurance in the present day. Addressing contemporary contexts, the book investigates how displaced artists face distinct barriers that manifest aesthetic outcomes. Language, identity and labour also appear as critical factors informing how art is made, curated, collected and publicly understood. 

Advancing the new concept of ‘displacement aesthetics’ - a negotiation between representation, lived experience and institutions – this book offers a major interdisciplinary analysis that intervenes in History, Art History, and Museum Studies. Combining archival research, analysis of art, and collaborative co-curation with artists and museums, Understanding Displacement Aesthetics presents new insights into the role of art and culture in mediating this pressing social and political issue in the 20th and 21st centuries.