An exhibition documenting the struggles of refugees as they wait to be accepted in society has been set up in Manchester Central Library.
"You can see me but I do not exist" is a collaboration between photographer Alan Gignoux and refugees in Manchester, Birmingham and London, and will be on display in the reading room in Manchester Central library from June 2-30.
The exhibition is intended to coincide with Refugee week from June 19-25, a festival celebrating refugees' contributions, creativity and resilience.
While photographing refugees in France, Belgium, Austria, and Sweden in 2018, Alan noticed a recurring theme among them was the gradual erosion of self, resulting from prolonged periods of living at the fringes of society.
He uses a camera obscura to blur the identity of the refugees which has a practical purpose as most do not wish to be identified, but is also intended to be a visual metaphor for the corrosive impact of the asylum-seeking process on people.
