Mark Henley

This series of photographs of photographs shows what prejudice looks like - both literally and figuratively. It is also, in part, an act of defiance against vandalism – racist or otherwise.

Originally we made a series of portraits of refugees seeking asylum in Switzerland, shown in an exhibition, pasted on the street - by the refugees themselves - as part of an ‘anti-racism’ week in cooperation with JR’s Inside Out Project foundation. It was however defaced overnight by unknown individuals, to such a degree that the exhibition had to be taken down.

The series presented here are the original black and white portraits, re-photographed, as found the morning after they had been damaged.
For myself personally, the intervention has made them stronger, and the original portraits have been transformed into a visual symbol not only of the stresses and prejudice refugees face, and also raise questions of lost identity and dislocation, appropriate to individuals, many of whom have been traumatised by their experiences.