No Man’s Land is a collaborative project that explores experiences of indefinite immigration detention.

There are currently approximately 2500 people detained under immigration law in the UK. Under this law, a person can be detained indefinitely. The reasons for detaining someone for a longer period of time vary - from a failed asylum application to a minor criminal offence - but the result in most cases is a person stuck in a state of limbo.

Not accepted by the UK and usually not recognized by their country of origin, a person detained can neither leave Britain nor be released, gradually becoming invisible and stateless.

No Man’s Land is a collaboration between Nana Varveropoulou and a number of men detained in Colnbrook IRC who participated in photography workshops over a period of 2 years.

The workshops were based around various themes, which were developed through group discussions about the experience and the emotional impact of indefinite detention. Using digital cameras to create photo-stories, participants were responding to themes such as “Time”, “Powerlessness”, “Patience”, “Insomnia” and “Hope”.

While running workshops, Nana was also given an unprecedented access to photograph the centre. Producing her own photographs of spaces and portraits, Nana created a simultaneous record of the ‘outsider’s’ and ‘insider’s’ perspectives of indefinite immigration detention.