Migration, Borders and Precarity in Massa Lemu’s Selected Conceptual Art Projects

Abstract

This paper focuses on how Massa Lemu, a Malawian artist living and working in the United States of America, reflects on and interrogates migrant experiences through three of his conceptual art projects namely Passages for the Undocumented (2010–2012), Stamp Collector: Coyotes (2016) and Precariot (2013–2016). Using the critical discourse analysis approach and drawing on studies on migrant arts in general and conceptual art in particular as well as literature on immigrant subjectivities, the paper holds that through these projects Lemu questions (America’s) dominant perceptions of immigrants through critical reflection on dilemmas and experiences of immigrants from the moment of leaving their countries of origin through border crossing to settling down in their host destinations in America. The paper further holds that through these projects, Lemu also interrogates the idea of the border and its power to construct and reinforce migrant identities.