14 images Created 16 Oct 2013
Between States
This exhibition, entitled "Between States," featured large-scale portraits, audio interviews with refugee claimants locked in battles with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Stuck in limbo without legal status for years, some in jail, others in refuge in churches, many faced deportation to imminent torture or death, unable to defend themselves in court because they are denied access to the evidence against them. Detailed legal data documenting the history of their struggles was also featured in the expo thanks to organizations such as Solidarity Across Borders, No One is Illegal and others. The subjects in the exhibition represent a tiny fraction of the thousands across Canada who face similar struggles every day.
The expo was a winner in New York’s Photo District News Photo Annual contest in 2007, was the subject of a major exhibition at Montreal's Dazibao gallery, and won the 2008 Montreal Arts Council Touring Exhibition competition.
Dazibao director France Choinière said the following about the exhibition : "Darren Ell’s work does not judge, nor does it try to absolve. The only verdict it offers is that of the right to justice, to a trial, to be given clear legal status. His involvement, informed by close collaboration with social justice organizations such as Solidarity across Borders, Justice for Mohamed Harkat and Homes not Bombs, goes well beyond a mere connection to a subject. His close familiarity with his subjects, moreover, is surely at the root of the incredible power of his work. In these large-format portraits—it’s as if he were revealing, larger than life, the hidden face of a society which believes itself to be inclusive, fair and tolerant—there are no victims or heroes. Rather, Ell’s images place us face to face with ourselves. They question our own value system and perhaps our too-passive resistance. Accompanied by a sound track in which the individuals photographed describe their situation, Darren Ell’s work brings the documentary genre up to date."
Montreal Voir art critic Nicolas Mavrikakis stated, "Darren Ell is a committed photographer. In his exhibition, he shows us the limits of our democracies. Here is an expo that reveals that there still exist politically committed artists who are interested more than in just the latest fashions or the decoration of bourgeois homes."
The expo was a winner in New York’s Photo District News Photo Annual contest in 2007, was the subject of a major exhibition at Montreal's Dazibao gallery, and won the 2008 Montreal Arts Council Touring Exhibition competition.
Dazibao director France Choinière said the following about the exhibition : "Darren Ell’s work does not judge, nor does it try to absolve. The only verdict it offers is that of the right to justice, to a trial, to be given clear legal status. His involvement, informed by close collaboration with social justice organizations such as Solidarity across Borders, Justice for Mohamed Harkat and Homes not Bombs, goes well beyond a mere connection to a subject. His close familiarity with his subjects, moreover, is surely at the root of the incredible power of his work. In these large-format portraits—it’s as if he were revealing, larger than life, the hidden face of a society which believes itself to be inclusive, fair and tolerant—there are no victims or heroes. Rather, Ell’s images place us face to face with ourselves. They question our own value system and perhaps our too-passive resistance. Accompanied by a sound track in which the individuals photographed describe their situation, Darren Ell’s work brings the documentary genre up to date."
Montreal Voir art critic Nicolas Mavrikakis stated, "Darren Ell is a committed photographer. In his exhibition, he shows us the limits of our democracies. Here is an expo that reveals that there still exist politically committed artists who are interested more than in just the latest fashions or the decoration of bourgeois homes."
