'Multi-Story' has developed from 'New Horizons', a project developed in collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council in 2003 which resulted in a CD-ROM. This was made collaboratively with asylum seekers and themed on an orientation guide to Glasgow, exploring emotional orientation as much as any physical guide map. 'Multi-Story' extended that collaboration and offered two weekly sessions over a 6 month period to residents of the YMCA Headquarters in Springburn, North Glasgow. Around 240 asylum seekers live in the 31 storey tower block and floor 28 is given over to social and educational resources. Residents were invited to participate in a range of creative activities using digital imaging, sound recording and video, alongside conventional photography and computer skills. The project generated a vibrant range of outputs including cookery videos, music, songs, personal testimonies and portraits.

Photography and new media are ideal means for collaborative art practices. There is something immediately appealing about them in their accessibility and universality - most can take a camera and press the shutter. I don't suppose there are many places in the world where the photographic image in not known, especially in the form of the portrait and the family group. As one of the artists says, "... there's a global familiarity with photography that cuts across cultural and language barriers... in its documentary role it says, 'I am here. This is where I am.'" The photographic portrait, however, carries with it certain dangers for refugees and asylum seekers whose natural inclinations must be to remain anonymous. Making personal portraits, however, proved to be extemely popular and was taken up enthusiastically. Clothes, props and poses were used to illustrate the personality of each of the participants. The results are clear to see....a set of portraits with which it would be difficult not to engage at levels deep below the surface. Redmond O'Hanlon, in answering his own question, 'why are great photographs so powerful?' suggests '... they stop time... they are one in the eye for death... but also they deal in images, the language of our dreams.' I'd venture that these notions lie at the root of the success of this photographic project. For fear of harassment, difference is often belittled and concealed. The project encouraged people to see their culture as something to be celebrated. Through this work, in which cultural diversity is framed positively, it is hoped that some of the fear and hostility to the uniqueness of difference can be challenged.

One of the problems with art projects in this field of work is a lack of any long-term engagement and continuity - it's great while it lasts, but then what. Technology offers a solution and an interactive website has been established. It aims to provide a forum for discussion and dialogue for the participants so that this project will continue no matter that some might well be off to the other end of the country. New users will be able to get involved and contribute, so that 'Multi-Story' literally becomes an expanding web of contact and creativity.

David Harding
Jan '05