Following on from the passport dummy from tutorial 1 (above), which I used to flush out questions of identity through making, I nominated the hidden colonialism in my British identity as a subject to concentrate on.
References within the writing component such as Jana Traboulsi’s Sorry for Not Attending, Khlaed Jarrar’s State of Palestine and Amak Madmoodian’s Shenasnameh highlighted subversion of the passport using often simple methods of GCD as a route to investigate. These projects all reimagine identity documents as an act of protest against power structures, sometimes reclaiming or creating new space and circulating beyond just the document.
Questions of monarchy, climate change and colonialism arose from iterating the first passport. What stuck out to me was the colonialism and a thread began to emerge regarding hidden colonialism within my national identity and how that has been highlighted by traveling. Living in Cyprus, for example, where the British were complicit in the break up of the island, brought questions whilst living there. Or whilst visiting the Parthenon Museum in Athens, my kids asked ‘where are the missing pieces, Daddy?’.
The passports stamps I had subverted with Carbon emissions became the most interesting avenue. Could I make the stamps, could I involve text and connect the stamps with a narrative? Was there something about the HIDDEN nature of the subjects I had chosen.
Taking a cue from The Conditional Design Manifesto and my own wish to be process-led rather than outcome (this is developing), I started iterating around the stamps ideas. Firstly digitally, and then by having stamps made, it became clear that rather than facts regarding colonialism or singular memories from my childhood (a very interesting exercise), a linked narrative had to be the content.
After researching texts, I wrote the following myself:
I was a grown man and a parent
Before I noticed the shadow in my Britishness.
I moved to a place where years ago,
a Brit drew a line in green pencil
that divided land and families.
It turns out that “we” had drawn other lines
In other places too.
Whilst we were traveling around
my kids started asking questions like
‘Why do the Egyptians have pounds?’
‘Where are the missing pieces of the Parthenon?’
‘Was Petra before the British Empire?’
But it was really me asking questions of myself.
So I told them that our country invaded places,
taking other peoples stuff,
and actual people too.
When I was their age I never questioned
why every map had the UK at the centre,
or why lots of it was in reddy pink,
or why there was something called the Third World,
or the Middle East,
or the Far East.
I do now.
My Britishness is complicated.
I’m trying to be a good human
despite the colonial history of the place I was born in.
It’s still there, under the surface.
Maybe I can help change it.
I guess that starts we my and my kids.
The world comes later.
Then, I hid the text within a set of specific stamps from two expired passports, each time the text linking to the stamp and its location. Over the passport, the reader has to find the hidden story within it….
I printed and hand-bound a dummy of the passport, enclosed within a foiled cover (taken from a greetings card). I added copies of visas, a passport photograph. The result is a subtle, narrative driven statement of realisation of my hidden colonial inheritance.
In May 13’s tutorial feedback included:
– Well resolved, could spend the last week finessing the execution and being clear about the intention.
– Investigate under further using CSM Publications workshop
– Could rework the end matter to hide the text, if the premise of this is to be hidden, this feels obvious.
– Perhaps stamp the whole thing using customized stamps, but be aware of cost. The stamps that were purposefully made have a more authentic feel to the output and the act of stamping reflects the theme of reclamation of my opinion in the publication.
– Make the new iteration at actual passport size rather than 105 x 148 (postcard size), the replication of the format will help the hidden theme.
Following a successful tutorial, I approached Publications who showed me various past projects which attempt to replicate passports. All of them felt home-made, which I have achieved without the aid of the workshop. The passport needs to look authentic, so two strategies have emerged at this point:
1) repurpose a passport cover from an expired passport, reprint the insides and bind it using endpapers, sew along the spine using a sewing machine. Buy a typographic stamp and work INTO the original stamps where possible, thereby achieving natural authenticity, repair passport cover.
2) recreate the above dummy, but using the reclaimed passport cover and commissioning hand made stamps, stating it myself, this will be expensive but worthwhile.
Writing component drafted on time and is directly informing the work.