The United Kingdom stands alone in Europe for lacking a legal restriction on immigration detention, a condition often termed "Indefinite detention". The absence of a defined time frame during detention makes it arguably the most psychologically detrimental aspect of the experience. Immigration detention is commonly acknowledged as a systematic issue, constituting a form of "structural violence." This violence is perceived as "structural" only when one has a certain intellectual or emotional proximity to the system. However, for those ensnared within the structure, the violence directly impacts their bodies and minds.
Within the confines of an immigration detention centre, the body, traditionally seen as the last bastion of autonomy, transforms into a profoundly political entity. Individuals who have undergone detention have resorted to protests, employing tactics such as threats of self-harm and hunger strikes. In contemplating the body as a political space, this project had the aim to integrate our own bodies into this resistance process. On the 10th of March, me and the artists staged a silent sit-down protest outside the Home Office. Simultaneously, we amplified recorded audio testimonies from two individuals who had previously experienced detention. Their voices reverberated as employees of the Home Office and the "general public" tread upon hundreds of copies of a single document, a testament to the Home Office's human rights violations.
