business as usual : hostile environment (2020)

A working iteration of the project "business as usual : hostile environment". Originally co-commissioned with Glasgow Sculpture Studios as part of Event Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, the project was conceived to explore Glasgow’s Forth and Clyde Canal as both a literal and poetic route through which to reflect on the role of waterways in the voluntary and involuntary movement of people. Reworking aspects of the new film at speed and in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, Whittle powerfully incorporates archival footage relating to the UK’s Windrush scandal as well as material highlighting the role of immigrants in the NHS as they tackle the virus, foregrounding how political and ecological climates intersect and shape one another.