2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(2) The Cancelled Art programme has an unusual name. It occurs to us that something has to exist first before it is cancelled, and somehow they are denied their agency and access. We are thinking to understand the construction around it; it is not something just about legal or illegal. We want to combine the pluralism of activities through our programme. Through new artworks, archives, poetry, filmmaking, installation art, performances we would try to remove the boundaries between systems and individual, and we will show the human aspects of statelessness. 70 During my internship, Rabiaa almost told me the same. She said: In the conference, the idea is to translate the diverse experiences and conditions of stateless people in artistic ways so that the wider audience feels empathy and connection with the stateless people because the legal approach cannot do much in this case of statelessness, which is apparent from the growing pile of stateless people all around the world. We will try to translate these ideas which will be an alternative way to experience the realities around statelessness. 71 When I asked her what she means by ‘alternative way’, she replied with a smile, ‘a human way’. 72 Thus, the main theme from my observation was a ‘humanisation’ of statelessness. Artworks on statelessness have tried to frame and represent statelessness in a variety of ways. This contrasts legalistic and state-centred approaches, the strict foci of which can dehumanise stateless persons. The message should be that stateless people are human beings, who have lost their homes, occupations, languages and all the familiarity of life. The art-based approach proposes to see them as human beings and, most importantly, suggests listening to their stories to get a sense of their feelings of frustration, fear, denial, resistance and agency, as well as their overall existence as stateless persons. Just like Ralph Ya, an artist associated with Empathy and Risk told me: ‘we are here to humanise the issue of statelessness. It’s about humanising this very legal thing by establishing human connections between stateless people and the rest of us’. 73 This motive to humanise statelessness through an artistic approach can also be found in the work of Mark Manly and Laura van Waas: Although statelessness is undeniably a legal anomaly, at its heart, it is also a human condition. It affects people — often in devastating ways. Not only does it have an impact on their legal status and ability to exercise rights, but it also affects the way they are perceived and how they perceive themselves. 74 How do you then humanise the issue of statelessness? Or, how do you establish a human connection with people who have never experienced statelessness? The major concept I heard over and over again during my internship was empathy. David Cotterell, Rabiaa, other team members and artists all mentioned using art to create empathy for the stateless person, so that policymakers, academics, experts and civil society would understand what it is like to be a stateless person, and how it feels when the world around you does not recognise you. Every artwork and performance exhibited or performed in the conference venue had one common 70 71 72 73 74 David Cotterrell, Co-founder of Empathy and Risk, ‘Cancelled Art’ (Speech, World Conference on Statelessness and Inclusion, 26 June 2019) (copy on hand with author). Informal Conversation with Rabiaa Benlahbib, Director, Creative Court (Mizanur Rahman, Creative Court 2 March 2019). ibid. Informal conversation with Ralph Ya, Artist, Empathy and Risk (Mizanur Rahman, 23 June 2019). Manly and van Waas (n 67) 5. 284