Few artists can tackle such sensitive, current tragedies with the blatancy of M.I.A.
M.I.A.’s recent video for ‘Borders’ reignites debate surrounding the ongoing global refugee crisis by portraying groups of young male refugees in scenes visually reimagined from those that have dominated our news feeds in the past few months.
As an artist, M.I.A. has a reputation for courting controversy. A keen proponent of various causes, she has spoken out particularly regarding the treatment of fellow Tamil communities in Sri Lanka, to the extent that some have accused her of supporting terrorism. Her song ‘Sunshowers’ was even banned from MTV for a reference to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) which she refused to have censored.
The self-directed music video for ‘Borders’ is not the first time M.I.A. has addressed the issue of otherness. In ‘Paper Planes’, a song featured in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, she includes a number of overtly satirical images of immigrants, culminating in the much-referenced chorus of “all I want to do is take your money” interjected with the sound of gunshots and the familiar ringing of an old-fashioned cash register – sounds which mock racial stereotypes and harmful attitudes towards immigrants.
In ‘Borders’, M.I.A. is a lone female figure among scores of male actors playing refugees. She chooses to present them running across deserted land, walking along and climbing up barbed wire fences, and arriving on overcrowded boats. These are combined with choice close-up shots of individuals, who look despondent and weary. The video generates a sense of claustrophobia and the unsettling, intimate footage challenges preconceived notions of refugees as faceless masses keen to take advantage of our welfare state. The video explores what it means to be a refugee and the value of individual life, while the song title questions the literal and man-made borders that alienate and divide people. This coupled with M.I.A.’s brash and honest lyrics, which pose this question: “Freedom, I’dom, Me’dom, Where’s your We’dom?”
The refugee question, she proposes, should be addressed at a basic human level, rather than in terms of “them and us”. In western media the word “refugee” has become a loaded label devoid of individual identity and containing a blatant disregard for why people would choose to leave their homeland. M.I.A’s images give agency to the refugees both as individuals and as a collective force. Their bodies spell out ‘life’ at one point and, later, their boats form the shape of a flower embodying the possibility of starting again.
Like much of her previous work, ‘Borders’ has been met with a mixed reception. Many have dismissed her antics as leftist propaganda, while others oppose her excluding women and children from the video. Mostly, however, she has been accused of exploiting the destitution of the real life refugees she is representing for capital gain. But what these views ignore is that, as a refugee herself, who has experienced war and violence first hand in her native Sri Lanka, M.I.A. is uniquely positioned to deliver this message. Her personal narrative is crucial to the video, as she plays the duality of insider and outsider. The only female, she stands in stark contrast to the groups of men. She is at the same time united with them: standing in the waters, sitting on a crowded boat, and rapping to the camera, while standing tall, high above the barbed wire fences.
There is sincerity in M.I.A.’s delivery and presentation, which does not demean or take away from the matter at hand by employing mere shock tactics. She draws the refugee crisis away from the refugee camps across Europe – to us directly. Like artists before her, such as Rage Against the Machine, she is dedicated to using her status as a musician to bring politically sensitive topics to the attention of a wider audience, and encourage an open dialogue at the very least. ‘Borders’ is visually and artistically poignant and, in the current music industry, you would be hard pressed to find many brave enough to tackle this subject head on.
Image from: http://www.joemygod.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bordersMIA-660x330.jpg