Bibby Boys documents the experience of the men aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge and the community that rallied around them. It is a collaborative photographic series by Theo McInnes and Thomas Ralph.
Free Admission
Private View, Thursday 19th March, 18:00-21:00. RSVP HERE
Counterpoints Arts is one of the partners supporting the exhibition.
In late 2023, while visiting Portland, McInnes and Ralph overheard the phrase “Bain’t narn of we” used to describe the men housed aboard the newly arrived Bibby Stockholm. In old Dorset, it means “ain’t one of us”. Hearing this prompted them to consider who these men were, and how they would experience the island as their temporary home.
The Bibby Stockholm, a repurposed maintenance barge moored off the island, was used by the UK government to accommodate people seeking asylum. Many of the men onboard had fled persecution, war, or climate-related displacement, only to find themselves confined in conditions Amnesty International described as “utterly shameful” and “reminiscent of the prison hulks of the Victorian era”. Promoted as a cost-saving alternative to hotel accommodation, the Bibby Stockholm became a highly visible symbol of a deterrence-led asylum policy.
The Isle of Portland is a small peninsula connected to the Dorset mainland by a single road. Known for its quarries, prisons, and industrial port where the barge was moored, the island has a rugged character shaped by industry, remoteness, and long-standing economic challenges. Portland and neighbouring Weymouth include several neighbourhoods ranked among the most deprived in England, reflecting persistent barriers to housing, employment, and access to services. With the arrival of the Bibby Stockholm, the island became a focal point of a fierce national debate on migration.
For many, boarding the barge did not feel like a choice. Several men later described feeling compelled to go onboard, fearing homelessness or negative consequences for their asylum claims if they refused. As they waited in limbo for interviews, often for multiple years, the men faced a series of severe challenges. These included an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the water supply, restricted movement, sustained racist and xenophobic protests, the threat of removal to Rwanda, and the death of Leonard Farraku onboard. All of this unfolded alongside the personal trauma many carried and deep uncertainty about their futures. Leonard’s death raised serious questions about the adequacy of mental health care and safeguarding within the asylum accommodation system, deepening concern about the human cost of prolonged limbo.
In late 2024, the decision not to renew the barge’s contract was widely understood as a response to mounting criticism of its human and financial cost. This followed sustained pressure on the newly elected government, driven in part by collective strikes organised by the men onboard and by continued solidarity from organisations including Care4Calais, Stand Up To Racism, and the local Portland Global Friendship Group.
Formed by Portland residents, many of whom were strangers before the barge arrived, the Portland Global Friendship Group offered practical support including help with Home Office applications, transport, clothing, and access to services, alongside companionship and advocacy. Operating amid local and national hostility, the group became a visible presence of welcome on the island. Through shared time and activity, gardening, walks, games, art, and volunteering became spaces of mutual exchange. Rather than a one-way act of assistance, the group grew through reciprocity, with care and responsibility shared between the men onboard and the wider Portland community. When the barge closed, both the men who had fought for its end and local residents were left to say goodbye to a community formed under conditions no one had chosen.
McInnes and Ralph worked slowly and collaboratively, prioritising time, consent, and repeated encounters. With no access to the barge itself, they worked from the outside, observing how the men lived and navigated this period of limbo on the island. Over more than a year, the connections formed between the artists, the men onboard, and the wider community shaped both the work and its meaning.
Mainstream media frequently reduces asylum to crisis or threat. Bibby Boys offers another way of looking, grounded in proximity, exchange, and relationship. The tensions surrounding this work are not abstract: when a small preview was shown in Dorset, the exhibition was vandalised. That act, occurring alongside a swell of welcome and support, reflects the contested ground this project occupies and why exhibitions encouraging dialogue and reflection remain necessary.
Artist Bios
Theo McInnes (b. 1992) is a photographer and filmmaker based in London. His practice centres on people and the ways they navigate the world, using photography and film as vehicles for exploration, attention, and empathy. Working across portraiture, social documentary, and observational filmmaking, McInnes focuses on human presence, character, and lived experience, often engaging with communities observed from the margins. His directorial debut, the short documentary The Fanciers, received recognition at DOC NYC and Bolton International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival. McInnes is a multiple-time Portrait of Britain winner, selected in 2019, 2020, and 2024, and shortlisted in 2023. He received the Social Documentary Photography Award for Best Series for Showland, and has been awarded Rugby Photographer of the Year twice for his documentary work on the Men’s Six Nations.
Thomas Ralph (b. 1989) is a film director, writer, and socially engaged artist from Dorset whose work is driven by political inquiry and an interest in lived experience. Working across film and photography, his practice explores culture, community, and representation. His commercial work has received nominations and awards from Cannes Lions, British Arrows, D&AD, and the UK Music Video Awards. In 2024, he was a Portrait of Britain winner. Alongside his commissioned practice, Ralph develops long-form narrative and documentary projects. He is currently co-writing the feature film Precious Things and the television miniseries The Laughter Of Our Children with Liam Papadachi, and is adapting writer Max Porter’s arms trade soliloquy Wild West into a short film.
