Wounded by Daniel McGurty

Over the weekend of 3-4 August 2024, severe rioting took place in various locations around the United Kingdom. Anti-immigration protesters clashed with police and counter-protesters, attacked homes and businesses owned by immigrants, and attacked hotels housing asylum seekers. Hostility towards Asylum Seekers and Migrants remains widespread within increasingly emboldened and vocal sections of society in the UK.

Daniel McGurty has worked with spoken word artist Criss Roden to set his piece, Wounded, to music. Wounded investigates themes of humanity, empathy and the impact individuals are able to make as one component of a much larger social system or structure.

"Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone who has known so much pain and upset?

If you are someone providing them a service, they may already feel very angry and powerless. Some of that pain and frustration inevitably comes out at you.

When you're on the clock seeing perhaps six clients a day, sometimes you start to see people as work. I think this is part of the problem. My career as a social prescriber, I worked with all kinds of people facing health inequalities, and I often had the sense I was contending with systems, and not the limitations of one individual. These systems are made up of hundreds and thousands of individuals like me, all just as human, all with their own problems.

These words were an opportunity for me to reflect on my own tendency to dehumanise, the reasons why and what is gained when I resist that urge." - Criss Roden

Either purchase the digital download of this piece or head directly to Refugee Sanctuary Scotland to donate through their website https://refugeesanctuaryscotland.org.uk/help-and-support/. All proceeds from digital downloads for this piece will be donated to Refugee Sanctuary Scotland.

Musician and digital artist based in Edinburgh

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