Lingering Ghosts

• Prize
  Gold in Book (Series Only)/Documentary, 2nd Place winner in Book (Series Only)
• Photographer
  Sam Ivin

What does it mean to be an asylum seeker in the UK? This was the starting point of Ivin’s research, which began at a drop in centre in Cardiff, Wales and continued all over England. It seeks to raise questions about how the UK’s migration system treats those who arrive in our country seeking safety. Once arrived in the UK, these people find themselves in a state of limbo, having to await news of their application for asylum for months or even years. They become Lingering Ghosts. These physically scratched portraits attempt to convey the the cruel loss of self, and the frustration that befalls them as they wait to learn their fate. Despite being represented without their eyes, these people do have an identity and we recognise them as fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Human beings after all.