This week, to mark Refugee Week 2020, Jon Weston, Exhibitions Officer, Contemporary Visual Arts at Sunderland Culture, selects Imran Perretta’s 15 Days, 2018:

"Imran Perretta’s film 15 days combines compelling filmed footage and personal accounts from a former resident of ‘the jungle’ an infamous refugee camp (January 2015 – October 2016) setup near Calais, France during the peak of the migrant crisis in Europe. The film focuses on the period after the camp was demolished in October 2016 leaving thousands sleeping rough in the nearby surrounding woodlands. The theme for this year’s Refugee Week (15-21 June) is Imagine, to place ourselves in the position of others. 15 days is particularly striking during this time when we are all more conscious of facing uncertainty and threat in our lives offering up a stark comparison to people facing these concerns daily on a much greater scale."

Imran Perretta's 15 days, is inspired by the time that the artist spent with former inhabitants of the refugee camp near Calais, France that became known as the Jungle. After the camp was destroyed in 2016, its former inhabitants began living rough in the surrounding woods and fields.

The title of the piece is not a measure of the length of Perretta’s stay, but rather a salute to the hastily made-up name of one of the people he befriended. The alias ‘15 days’ may allude to the period since this man’s latest temporary camp was demolished, or perhaps reference the time he has been waiting in limbo, in the hope of a new and better life.

Perretta’s work realises this state of uncertainty, animating a bleak environment against a backdrop of dank digital trees and muddy scrubland, interspersed with handheld footage shot on location in France. We see a tent flapping in the breeze, its flimsy outline a reminder of all that stands between its occupant and the world. Uncomfortable yet compelling, the work captures the intense emotions of living on the edge, bringing them to the centre of the viewer’s thoughts.