Waiting room
According to Scottish Parliament report, there are at least 181,000 EU nationals living in Scotland. Especially after a Brexit vote in June 2016, in which Scottish people voted 62% in favour of 'remain’, the country seems like an oasis within Britain, where immigrants can feel really welcome. Scottish government often stresses the positive role of migrants in the society, and pledges to support them. Despite this, the foreigners in Scotland face the same uncertainties about their own future as those living South from the border.
This work focuses on the EU immigrants living in Scotland in the face of post-Brexit anxieties. Many of the immigrants have established personal links with the country, have their families and homes here, their kids were born and grew up in Scotland. Now, they are forced to rethink their place in the world, and the future of their families and relationships, while waiting for the government's final decision on the status of EU citizens in the UK. The portraits are coupled with photographs of neighbourhoods, placing the sitters in a local sphere that they have become a part of.
The series is a record of many meetings and often very long conversations - about belonging, integration, and about effects of political situation on people's personal lives.
2017