Testimonial from an Artist, his Translator and Chili Hawes, Director of The October Gallery. An Artist from Beijing and his translator were both refused a visa to attend the Artist’s own Private View at The October Gallery which opened in February 2009. Since all the visa applications in Beijing must be submitted through Visa Application Center (VAC) not British Embassy, the officer at VAC couldn’t advise us what type of visa we should apply. So based on our previous experiences about visa applications, we chose to apply for a visa as business visitors from a range of “General visitor, Family visitor, Business…

The regulations, which were officially put into effect on 27 November 2008, have meant a number of artists have been refused entry. Read testimonies below, and email visitingartists@manifestoclub.com to post a comment. An update from Flavia D’Avila, a Brazilian theatre star Ruganzu Bruno, a Ugandan Visual Artist which tells the despairing narrative of how African artists are treated by visa officials who create an arduous, costly and impervious system that is insurmountable for up-and-coming artists who don’t earn a substantial income from their art. Read the full testimony. Flavia D’Avila is a theatre star facing deportation. Read the full testimony. Visual and…