Richard Mosse is most well known for his award winning photographs from Congo using infrared film. For his new work Mosse has used a thermal camera, which is produced in the EU by a multi-national weapons company, can detect body heat from a distance of 30.3 km, day or night. The work presents a portrait of migrants.
The exhibition at the Barbican is called Incoming. The main piece is a multimedia video done in collaboration with composer Ben Frost and cinematographer Trevor Tweeten. It presents a dark dystopian view into the world of migration.
Using thermal camera changes the day to look like night, black to white and vice versa. This distortion gives the viewer an otherworldly experience of the horrors of escaping war zones.
In close up views the immigrants look like ghosts, living between two worlds – “the stateless people”.
Highly recommended exhibition, yet again the whole experience is truly unique.
