Glasgow to East Timor – Worlds Apart?

Robin Taudevin
Born 14 March 1977 in Papua Guinea
Died 14 May 2006 in East Timor
Independent International photojournalist

‘Fighting for Refuge
Glasgow to East Timor - Worlds Apart?’

All photographs in this exhibition were taken in the last year of Robin’s life before he drowned while free diving off the coast of Dili, East Timor where he was working for the UN and also as an independent photographer.

This exhibition runs in two parallel story lines - Glasgow and East Timor. This exhibition attempts to highlight the global and circular nature of the experience of those displaced by conflict. Both stories are far from unique. While for geographical reasons East Timorese are unlikely to seek safe refuge in the UK, those who do come here seeking asylum have often come through similar circumstances and are often met with hostility. Global asylum claims are dropping, and have dropped substantially in the UK since a peak in 2002. However, there remains a major global migration from the developing world towards the richer, safer worlds of Europe, Australia and North America. As long as the need for refuge continues, people from other countries are going to continue to claim asylum in the UK.