WHO IS? PROJECT
WHO IS? PROJECT
The Who is? Project has been made to ask the public to question the way we think about each other: our neighbours, our co-workers, our families, those we see living on the street, those we see struggling, those who are complete strangers to our particular community, those of a different nationality and background. We all have stories, and each person’s story is completely different from our own, but equally important. The project starts now.
A white flag emblazoned with the words “Who are they?, Who are we?“ was first exhibited on World Refugee Day in 2017 and has since been exhibited in various countries all over the world. Asking the viewer the question, Who are they?, Who are we? , the flags are speaking about the many invisible borders we as a species have created through history. The flag is designed to act as a catalyst to discuss division and the growing fear of the stranger. The stranger is an ambivalent character. They are neither neighbour nor alien, but both, simultaneously. Close foreigners and foreign neighbours. Alien fear is a product of the stranger's incongruous character and life is marked by the struggle to reduce alienation. People are bombarded with new impressions and social life has become more and more ritualistic, and when fellow citizens and establishments increasingly act out of self-interest, the result is social distance – hiding behind human made borders, both physical and invisible.
The symbolic value in raising a flag or burning a flag is universal. Walls protect against external influences and create security. With the same view they set limits. The access one has to buildings is part of people's identity, the same applies to nations. One flag divides man into groups, one can be under a flag, or one on the outside, and the flag belongs to the other.
The Who is? Project is a collaboration between artist Jonas Jessen Hansen and Iman Tajik, and will be used as a vehicle to discuss issues concerning today’s immigration system and raising people's awareness.