Fragments from Another Life

When people flee their homes and homelands because of persecution they are often lucky to escape with their lives. In a new photographic exhibition photographer Rhonda Klevansky has captured the images of 50 recent arrivals to the United Kingdom - refugees and asylum seekers - with the few precious possessions they managed to salvage in their flight to safety. Their very personal connection to the objects is highlighted by annotations each survivor has made to their photograph. It is with the addition of these sketches, poems, statements of hope and of continuing despair, that this exhibition offers a potentially new insight into the forces that have brought this latest, and much maligned, wave of immigration to Britain. Those in the photographs come from backgrounds as diverse as Iraq, Rwandan, Sri Lanka and Colombia. The exhibition, entitled Fragments from Another Life, will be shown for the first time at the Diorama Gallery (34 Osnaburgh Street, London, NW1), starting January 19 and running through to February 21. It then moves to the Islington Museum Gallery where it will run from March 03 until Easter. Rhonda says the idea for this exhibition came after visiting Ellis Island in New York, which a century ago was used as a reception centre for newly arriving immigrants to the United States: "I am a South African living in London. My great grandparents were Russian Jews. At home we have a few objects that my forebears carried across the world, including a samovar. Since my childhood I have wondered why they chose to bring it, and how they carried it," she says. "At the Ellis Island museum, for me, one of the most poignant exhibitions was that which had photos of early immigrants along with the things that they brought. Rhonda Klevansky is a photographer and television producer with over 15 year's experience in photojournalism, providing photo artwork for book illustrations and contributing to photographic exhibitions. She is also a volunteer with the UK-based charity the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. They have supported the exhibition and helped find some of her subjects. Rhonda hopes the exhibition, which has the backing of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, will help people see past disparaging newspaper headlines about asylum seekers and regard them as human beings. "In the 'developed' world we place enormous emphasis on possessions - my hope is that the inclusion of these in the photograph will establish a resonance with the viewer - giving him or her something with which to identify," she says.