Do not trust the borders

In a body of work that ranges from installation to video and mixed media works, Harmans explores the gatekeepers or boundaries that continue reinstating invisible othering by acknowledging only those who ‘belong’ and isolating others. Turning to batting material, bandages and paper, tea and coffee, Harman interrogates the migration policies that have resulted in the dehumanization of certain bodies through the colonial visa application processes.

DO NOT TRUST THE BORDERS investigates the concept of displacement and dispossession. These very terms seem to be experiences of those who have been kept out due to physical and psychological borders which surround them. Harmans explores how the creation of a ‘border’ reproduces and strengthens the negative narratives that exist amongst people and their geographical borders.

Using the term “defamiliarization” to describe his artistic practice, putting his work in an unfamiliar way that creates further conversation and transports the work in unfamiliar spaces. He focuses more on the process of creating the work and that process becomes the body of art on its own. The complexity, rawness and imperfection add layers to the work and plays a role in “trusting the process”. In this way the art is viewed from a different angle, becoming a tool for consent, and giving the public enough possibilities to think for themselves.

“The development of this exhibition was inspired by my interest with borders and how the Visa application process can be so dehumanising. The process of development included a lot of dialogues with people I have met who have had  first-hand experience with crossing the borders,” says Harman.

Harman who personally had an experience of border difficulties at the time of researching the work explains further:“When you talk about borders one need to realise that, that concept applies to everyone. Restrictions are part of our lives, we are constantly performing and negotiating our lives, that is how I look at it. Imagine how those negotiations are in a foreign country or space, how taxing and draining for an individual. Dressing and undressing themselves, embarrassment, financial and emotional exhaustion. They go through that daily and they are in a state of urgency.