إلى المدينة
TO THE CITY
The smartphone SIM card is the key to unlocking transnational, as well as local networks and connecting scattered loved ones. For refugees the SIM card creates a portable sense of security, identity and home.
‘The sim card is like the key, the key to the ‘smartphone suitcase’ I would feel imprisoned without it…. It provides a way for my children to remember the faces, the places, the language of Syria, and for our family to build a secure future life here.’
Abdul, project artist, Coventry, 2018
The first chapter of this co-produced project took place in Coventry, the fastest growing UK city in 2017. As a City of Sanctuary, Coventry welcomed hundreds of displaced people on a UN resettlement programme. This project was guided by the creativity, experiences and needs of recently arrived refugees, as well as the skills of local craftsman. A collection of keys held within the city’s museum archives inspired our focus on the smartphone SIM card, as a vital contempoary key to a sense of belonging in a new place. A silversmith engraved gold plated SIM-scale artworks with participants illustrations expressing their hopes for the future. Participants also asked for their portraits to be taken.
In an immersive installation at the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry the SIM artworks were displayed alongside the city keys from the museum’s collection, dating from the 11th Century to today. Ten lightboxes displaying images of the SIMs taken with a macro lens enabled the audience to engage closely with the engraved illustrations. The artworks were acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery for their collection and put on permanent display. The work was commissioned by GRAIN projects. ‘A key to home: The role of the SIM card in refugee resettlement’ (Hingley, 2022) is published in the journal Imaginations: Special Issue on Migrations.