Brown Bodies in an Open Landscape are Often Migrating

Basir Mahmood creates cinematic re-enactments of the journeys of migrants: evoking tension between what we see and the harsh reality, exploring how we understand and choose to represent these stories.

Brown Bodies in an Open Landscape Are Often Migrating by Basir Mahmood is a powerful reflection on the dangerous journeys of undocumented migrants. Based on videos recorded by migrants during journeys from South Asia to Europe, Mahmood works with a film crew from Lahore to recreate these scenes. The footage does not recreate the migrants’ experiences, but instead shows the difficulties the film crew faces during filming: an exhausted team, lost actors and complicated direction.

Drawing a link between the harsh realities of migration and the media portrayal of these images. The sound reinforces the difference between what we see and hear, encouraging us to reflect about how we too tell stories about migration. Ultimately, Brown Bodies in an Open Landscape Are Often Migrating raises questions around the gap between the experience of migrants and our consumption and spectation of their stories.