Lifeline Zine
Visual artist and researcher Professor Lucy Orta has created a series of ‘Lifeline. ‘Lifeline’ are unfinished objects crafted in soft calico; a fabric traditionally used to make toiles, or prototype garments that can be used as open-ended conversational prompts.
A group of refugees and asylum seekers were invited to select a Lifeline and to interact with the object and to discuss the special meaning it held for them. The result of this workshop came together in a photoshoot and recorded responses express the challenges they faced on arrival and the opportunities that have helped to rebuild their new life in the UK.
The resulting Lifeline Zine is an artistic response to the advocacy research undertaken as co-investigator on the AHRC funded project Decolonising Fashion and Textiles: Design for Cultural Sustainability with Refugee Communities. A participatory action research project exploring concepts of cultural sustainability and community resilience through the lived experience of refugees and asylum seekers. With the support of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.