231 Phone Cards

The 231 phone cards, which are presented here, are the property of an Asylum seeker from West Africa. This Asylum seeker has been waiting six years for his case to be dealt with by the Department of Justice.
As an Asylum seeker he is provided with basic accommodation, food and a stipend of 19.10 a week by the State. Each week he spends approximately half of his allowance to call home to his family in Africa.
The phone cards explore the idea of attachment and how something as disposable as a phone card carries significance while also tracking a life lived in limbo.

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19.10 and Other Stories | Rory O'Neill | http://roryoneill.ie

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This work seeks to examine the complex system that is Direct Provision (DP). DP is the name given to the practice that governs the lives of Asylum Seekers applying for refugee status in Ireland. €19.10 is the weekly sum of money that they receive while in the care of the State. Asylum Seekers typically wait between four and ten years for a decision on their future. During this time they live in an institutional limbo. The tension that this existence engenders in both the physical and mental space occupied is further magnified by the sum of money received.