On 22 June 1948, the SS Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex carrying 492 Caribbean migrants who had been invited to assist with the UK\u2019s post-war reconstruction. This 8000-mile voyage marked the beginning of a modern mass migration to the UK, and its passengers, along with those who followed them, have become known as the Windrush Generation.<\/p>\n
70 years later, the extent of this group\u2019s ill-treatment by recent governments is finally coming to light. In 2012, the then-home secretary, now prime minister, Theresa May, revealed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph her intention of creating \u201ca really hostile environment for illegal migration\u201d in Britian. In 2014, this objective became manifest in new immigration laws which were used \u2014 often unlawfully \u2014 to deport and detain members of the UK\u2019s British-Caribbean population, who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrants. Known as the Windrush Scandal, it made the injustices of British immigration policy plain for everyone to see.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":71136,"id":71136,"title":"044+Kopie","filename":"044Kopie.jpg","filesize":203916,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/044kopie\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Christening Brixton.","name":"044kopie","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 12:57:05","modified":"2018-10-11 12:57:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":750,"height":743,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","thumbnail-width":97,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","medium-width":750,"medium-height":743,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","medium_large-width":750,"medium_large-height":743,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","large-width":750,"large-height":743,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","1536x1536-width":750,"1536x1536-height":743,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","2048x2048-width":750,"2048x2048-height":743,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":12,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/044Kopie.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":750,"wpvr_mobile-height":743}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
Nevertheless, one unintended consequence of this national outrage is that, in light of the anniversary of SS Empire Windrush, it\u2019s given cause to celebrate and recognise this community. Such is the role of Russian-Ghanaian artist Liz Johnson Artur<\/a>\u2019s social documentary photography, which centres on London\u2019s black diasporic communities. \u201cIt\u2019s a slap in the face,\u201d says Artur of the scandal, \u201cI can\u2019t say it any other way. These are people who\u2019ve fought wars for this country; they consider themselves British; they call England their motherland \u2013 and then they\u2019re treated like this.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of May\u2019s \u201chostile environment\u201d, migrants to the UK are being forced to prove their immigration status every time they want to access National Health Service doctors and hospital care, open a bank account or rent a home. \u201cI know people who\u2019ve maybe only been to Jamaica once or twice but are suddenly being told that\u2019s where they belong,\u201d Artur stresses. It\u2019s instances like these that are breeding a culture of fear in London, and across the UK. \u201cThis \u2018hostile environ- ment\u2019 is truly hostile,\u201d she asserts, \u201cit\u2019s dehumanising \u2014 and more than that, it\u2019s arrogant. After Brexit you had this thing of \u2018we don\u2019t need the EU, we have the Com- monwealth\u2019, but then you\u2019re doing this to people you\u2019re calling part of your family.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":71141,"id":71141,"title":"Real...Time stills (1)","filename":"Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","filesize":512930,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/real-time-stills-1\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"real-time-stills-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 13:18:32","modified":"2018-10-11 13:18:32","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1176,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":59,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","medium-width":1176,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","medium_large-width":1176,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","large-width":1176,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":941,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1176,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":7,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-1.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1176,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}},{"ID":71152,"id":71152,"title":"Screenshot 2018-10-11 15.33.56","filename":"Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","filesize":3297324,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/screenshot-2018-10-11-15-33-56\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Brother Michael \nPeckham.","name":"screenshot-2018-10-11-15-33-56","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 13:35:50","modified":"2018-10-11 13:36:13","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1478,"height":1486,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","thumbnail-width":95,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","medium-width":1478,"medium-height":1486,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","medium_large-width":1478,"medium_large-height":1486,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","large-width":1478,"large-height":1486,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","1536x1536-width":1478,"1536x1536-height":1486,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","2048x2048-width":1478,"2048x2048-height":1486,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","trp-custom-language-flag-width":12,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.33.56.png","wpvr_mobile-width":1478,"wpvr_mobile-height":1486}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" Sparked in the press by a November 2017 interview in The Guardian with 61-year-old Paulette Wilson, who, having lived in the UK for 50 years, was nearly forcibly removed from the country on a chartered flight before last-minute legal intervention, the Windrush Scandal has not left headlines since. Indeed, stories such as Wilson\u2019s are far from isolated, as Artur is quick to point out. \u201cFor all the people The Guardian Due to its large British-Caribbean population, London has been particularly affected by the Windrush Scandal. \u201cIn London, if you know your neigh- bours, you will know someone affected by this,\u201d she says. Artur\u2019s images convey this reality with urgency. One of the most captivating parts of her output is the 2018 video \u201cReal…Times\u201d, which was recently on show at the Gabi Ngcobo-curated Berlin Bienniale.<\/a> Playing out over various sequences of footage filmed in London this year, the work is a candid exploration of the nuances of black British identity. As it interweaves different diasporic narratives \u2014 from the millennial qualms voiced by South London\u2019s Born N Bread collective<\/a>, to large-scale Black Lives Matter rallies \u2014 the work is a jarring reminder of the UK\u2019s current climate and the trials and uncertainties faced by the Windrush Generation and its descendants. It\u2019s reminiscent of Artur\u2019s photographs, too: startlingly relevant, speaking directly of the now and immortalising a crucial moment in the UK\u2019s collective cultural consciousness.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":71151,"id":71151,"title":"Screenshot 2018-10-11 15.34.24","filename":"Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","filesize":4278063,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/screenshot-2018-10-11-15-34-24\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Nigerian Birthday Party, \nSouth London.","name":"screenshot-2018-10-11-15-34-24","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 13:34:55","modified":"2018-10-11 13:35:22","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1836,"height":1486,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","thumbnail-width":119,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","medium-width":1836,"medium-height":1486,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","medium_large-width":1836,"medium_large-height":1486,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","large-width":1836,"large-height":1486,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1243,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","2048x2048-width":1836,"2048x2048-height":1486,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","trp-custom-language-flag-width":15,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screenshot-2018-10-11-15.34.24.png","wpvr_mobile-width":1836,"wpvr_mobile-height":1486}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" But this London, characterised by feelings of outrage, disquiet and systemic injustice, is worlds apart from the city Artur encountered when she first moved to Peckham 27 years ago. Growing up in rural Germany, and having been brought up single-handedly by her white Russian mother, Artur had no real access to the black identity she inherited from her Ghanaian father, but that all changed when she came to England. \u201cI thought I\u2019d stay for a year,\u201d she remembers, \u201cbut London was a revelation. I felt so liberated.\u201d The UK capital taught Artur about the side of her cultural heritage that had been previously closed off to her. \u201cI spent most of my childhood travelling to East Germany, and to Russia, on to the Soviet Union and different Eastern Bloc countries, so I\u2019d never really been around black communities \u2013 London gave me access to that.\u201d It was the vibrancy and openness of Londoners that sparked Artur\u2019s infatuation with the city and its people, and her motive to photograph them.<\/p>\n Although London has changed tremendously in the last three decades \u2014 \u201cI could never even get a taxi to Peckham, but now it\u2019s the hippest place in London,\u201d Artur remembers \u2014 there\u2019s one thing that\u2019s remained constant: the diversity of the city. \u201cThe way people live, black or white, they live together,\u201d Artur explains matter-of-factly\u201cIf you\u2019re my neighbour, you\u2019re my neighbour.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":71138,"id":71138,"title":"Toma001","filename":"Toma001.jpg","filesize":141579,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/toma001\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"Friday Prayer, Brixton Mosque","name":"toma001","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 13:01:19","modified":"2018-10-11 13:02:00","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":750,"height":777,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","thumbnail-width":93,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","medium-width":750,"medium-height":777,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","medium_large-width":750,"medium_large-height":777,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","large-width":750,"large-height":777,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","1536x1536-width":750,"1536x1536-height":777,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","2048x2048-width":750,"2048x2048-height":777,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":12,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Toma001.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":750,"wpvr_mobile-height":777}},{"ID":71157,"id":71157,"title":"Real...Time stills (4)","filename":"Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","filesize":487651,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/liz-johnson-artur\/real-time-stills-4\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"real-time-stills-4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71134,"date":"2018-10-11 14:58:04","modified":"2018-10-11 14:58:04","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1185,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":79,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","medium-width":1920,"medium-height":1185,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","medium_large-width":1920,"medium_large-height":1185,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1185,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":948,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1185,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Real...Time-stills-4.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1920,"wpvr_mobile-height":1185}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" It\u2019s undoubtedly a consequence of colonialism, but London\u2019s multiculturalism gives the city its essence, and it\u2019s a feeling that\u2019s unparalleled in any other European capital. \u201cI grew up in Germany, and f you\u2019re a foreigner, you definitely know about it. In London, these people have truly rooted in London in a way you don\u2019t see anywhere else.\u201d As Artur rightly points out, it\u2019s largely down to the structure of the city, where, in an effort to create affordable social housing, post-Second World War governments built large-scale council properties across now-central areas of London. \u201cYou have very rich neighbourhoods next to council estates,\u201d Artur affirms, \u201cand that\u2019s so important. People need to be able to see one another, so they can relate to one another.\u201d And in London, they do.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why even though Artur\u2019s London photographs focus exclusively on its black communities, they resonate with anyone who knows the city at all. In one beautifully composed still from her Real…Times<\/em> video, a woman is shown in profile, ornamented with huge dangling earrings which plainly profess that BLACK LIVES MATTER. She\u2019s wearing a symbol of her diasporic identity: a net t-shirt dress in the colour of the Jamaican flag that\u2019s become so prolific in London that it\u2019s recognisable even in black and white. These truly are photographs that speak of the everyday, of what life is really like in the UK capital. Artur\u2019s images are, of course, political; but above everything else, they\u2019re about representation. \u201cI\u2019m not interested in trying to make a political agenda,\u201d she assures, \u201cbecause it\u2019s an everyday agenda for these people. The problem with the media is that it\u2019s not representing what London represents: I want to show the reality of the people who are never really talked about when people talk about London.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":" All images courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n Taken from SLEEK 59.<\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\n
\nhas printed, I can give you five others exactly the same way, or worse off,\u201d she maintains, continually asserting the gravity of the situation on the ground. \u201cThe after- shocks of these grand decisions immediately affect people\u2019s lives. If you have a hostile environment, it hits people straight away \u2014 you can\u2019t get your pension, you\u2019re losing your house, you\u2019re losing your job, you might get deported. It\u2019s not something where you can say \u2018we\u2019ll see what happens,\u2019 it happens straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n