The project can be viewed at the Black and Ethnic Minorities Community Partnership (BMECP). To view the installation during June-August please register by clicking here
Message In A Bottle(MIAB) is a participatory art project that includes a large interactive room installation, video & audio works, photography and workshops. It was commissioned by the Socially Engaged Art Salon and was created by Jane Lancashire and Gil Mualem-Doron. The project includes also a recorded testimony by Hummingbird Refugee Project's young leader Mohamad Aljasem.
The MIAB project aims to engage participants and audiences with the reality of the continuous deaths of ten of thousands of migrants and refugees in the Meditteranean Sea on their way to sanctuary in Europe.
MIAB was created as a collaborative of around 200 contributors, writing messages of love and solidarity on recycled plastic bottles which were then modified to resemble giant “water droplets” and used as the central components of an immersive room installation.
The many contributors and participants (so far) have included refugees, volunteers on search and rescue ships, refugee support groups and community organisations, plus members of the public from East Sussex and all over the world. By May 2021, 2100 pieces were created for the installation - representing the number of lost lives since the beginning of 2020.
Segments of the project are presented at the Jubilee Library from 4th-11th June, and as part of SEAS’s Refugee Week exhibition at The Ledward Centre. The final installation work is exhibited at SEAS space and at the lobby of the Black and Minorities Ethnic Community Partnership (BMECP) from the June 13th to September 30th.
For more details please scan the barcode or go to www.seasbrighton.org or Instagram: instagram.com/2020messageinabottle
Participants in the project were from the following organisations and groups: Migrant English Project / International students at Sussex University / Network of International Women / Brighton Dome on International Women Group SW France / Unity Yoga Lewes workshops / Staff and young people of Enthum House / Hummingbird Young Leaders / Volunteers on Search & Rescue ships (Rescuers in the Mediterranean Sea) / International participants from Instagram (refugees based in Australia and the US) / Conversation Across Borders / Oxford International English School /Refugees / Worldwide Tribe, Refugees at Home / Lewes Organisation for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (LOSRAS) / The Launchpad Collective (TLC).
In addition to the groups many individuals including artists, performers and writers from Sussex and beyond contributed to the project and their individual contributions can be found on the project’s Instagram page.