My name is Olly, and I am an actor with Rank & File. I live in Reading. My family came over to the UK from the Congo Republic. The safe at Reading Museum struck me as a symbol of isolation, whereby you are not in control of yourself, but someone else is in control of you. In Brecht’s Refugee Conversations, the notion that the safe itself has no value, but is instead a container for valuables was very relevant to me. I am interested in comparing the safe containing valuables to a human being who requires the need of a passport. Like the safe, the human has no value but is the holder of something valuable. Because without a passport what are we? An outsider, an anonymous entity? When you fill in a form, you tick boxes that define your identity and your place in society. For a short time, I had a box to tick and an identity until it was taken away because of lack of information and communication within the asylum system. The has had a lasting effect on me, and made me realise how broken the system is.
