Editor’s note
For our 40th Anniversary Issue, titled and themed around ‘Futurisms’, it is with great pride that we feature Chila Burman’s ‘The Smile You Send Returns to You’ on our cover. This installation, which unites imagination, history, and visual culture, tells a deeply personal yet universally resonant story of migration. At the heart of the piece is Burman’s father’s Ice Cream Van, ‘The Rocket,’ a recurring motif in her work that symbolises both a cherished childhood memory, and the broader narrative of the family’s move from India to Britain.
To offer further insight into this powerful piece and Chila Burman’s broader artistic legacy, we asked our Art Editor, Professor Leon Wainwright from The Open University, to provide a deeper understanding of how Burman’s work continues to inspire and provoke thought — encouraging us to envision a future shaped by the stories and struggles of the past. We hope this issue resonates with you as much as Chila Burman’s work has resonated with us.
Introducing our 40th Anniversary Issue — Wasafiri 119: Futurisms
This issue brings to the fore writers whose perspectives – on the present and on the future – have historically been sidelined. From alternative histories to critiques of the late-capitalist present; high fantasy, sci-fi and the posthuman; theories of landscape, the city, and the body; this milestone issue will showcase a branching network of writing on and around the power of persistence as resistance, as we continue to imagine into being futures that defy an increasingly oppressive present.