The Atlas in Motion presents the work carried out by Mathieu Pernot for more than ten years with migrants and offers a new perspective in the way of representing them.
Astronomy, botany, anatomy, cartography, the history of writing, the question of habitat are summoned in this atlas as knowledge common to all of humanity. A common knowledge that is embodied here by individuals with singular destinies encountered by the author.
The planets are in perpetual motion, animal species migrate freely, plants swarm and invade the landscapes while part of humanity finds itself constrained and prevented in its will to move. Refusing to be assigned to a territory where it is no longer possible for them to live, some people invent new circulations to move forward. The path is long and difficult, and many will not see the end of the journey.
What can we imagine of boats swallowed up by the Mediterranean Sea? Can a forest keep the memory of those who have passed through it?
What can the sky tell us about the history of those who look at it? How to inhabit your body when you have to leave the place where it has built itself?
In response, Mathieu Pernot offers a new form of storytelling, where the shared story is told in several voices. Combining photographs, videos, manuscripts, maps and found objects, the atlas reverses the point of view that arises on migrants. Most of the time anonymous and anxiety-provoking subjects of the media discourse, these individuals are here named and inscribed in the long time of history, the knowledge of which they are the custodians.
From Mosul to Aleppo, from Lesbos to Calais via Paris, “L’Atlas en mouvement” crosses the times and territories of exile and sets out to meet those who have the strength of hope. He sets the images in motion and proposes to create a space in which to represent the fragile history of migrants. He tells us that this is part of a common history that we must write together.
The exhibition is part of the Grand Arles Express program of the Rencontres d’Arles 2022.
Mathieu Pernot : The Atlas in motion
Exhibition from July 8 to October 9, 2022
The open doors of the exhibition: Thursday July 7 from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.
MUCEM
Fort St. Jean
Georges Henri Rivière building (320 m²)
1 Sp. J4, 13002 Marseilles, France
www.mucem.org
ACCESSIBLE WITH THE RENCONTRES D’ARLES 2022 PASS.
https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en/expositions/view/1113/mathieu-pernot
Book « L’Atlas en mouvement»
Mathieu Pernot
L’Atlas en mouvement / The Atlas in Motion
Texts by Patrick Boucheron and Roland Recht and an interview with Jean-François Chougnet
The Atlas in Motion brings together the work that Mathieu Pernot has carried out for more than ten years in collaboration with migrants. Their discussions brought together astronomy, botany, anatomy, cartography and the question of habitat. What can we imagine of boats swallowed up by the Mediterranean Sea? Can a forest keep the memory of those who have passed through it? What can the sky tell us about the history of those who look at it? How to inhabit your body when you have to leave the place where it has built itself?
This atlas of images is a poetic montage of photographs, videos, manuscripts, maps and found objects. It proposes the construction of a story with several voices, far removed from the media discourse on displaced persons. These individuals are named here and inscribed in the long time of the history of the knowledge of which they are the custodians.
Co-edition Textuel / Mucem Bilingual French / English Book Hardcover
240 pictures
352 pages
39 €
ISBN 978-2-84597-911-6
The J4 bookstore-boutique is open every day (except Tuesdays) during Mucem opening hours
