In the heart of the Bethanien artistic district in Berlin, the Re:Borders collective has brought together seven artists whose work invites us to reflect on the causes and consequences of migration. Voices that rise against amalgamations and racism in a Germany where these issues divide.
“We are here because you are destroying our countries.” It is with this quote that the manifesto which accompanies this week of exhibition begins, punctuated by discussions and performances. Through photography, documentary and artistic installations, RE:BORDERS wants to tell the story of those who, one day, are forced to leave their homes. Whatever the cause of departure – the climate crisis, wars or persecution – this exhibition bears witness to crossings always at the risk of one’s life, arrivals which are never synonymous with respite and integrations which constitute questions always in question. suspense.
Uprooted
Photographer Salih Basheer uses black and white film to tell the stories of Ali and Essam, two young people who fled Sudan for Egypt. Faced with severe racial discrimination, their ideals crumbled and the feeling of alienation from which they hoped to free themselves intensified. Like a diary, “The Home Seekers” delicately recounts their intimate journeys of fear and disillusionment. This work echoes the experience of the photographer himself, Sudanese, at that time in Egypt for his university studies: his experience of racism, his difficulties in emigrating (which will never be the same for others) and finally, his heartbreak to leave a country that will never again be what it was.
Dehumanized
Michél Kekulé photographer and curator of the exhibition alongside author Kasia Wojcik – documents a rescue mission on the Sea Watch 3 off the coast of Libya. “50_15” gives a face to the all-encompassing and dehumanizing term “migrants”. 50 for the number of people to be rescued, 15 for the number of drowned. A report which bears witness to one of the greatest dramas of recent years, which governments are stifling, at the same time engaging in increasingly ferocious “migrant hunts”. The horizon of the sea becoming the allegory of a shattered hope, these images do not spare us: we must look the truth in the eyes, if indeed we can meet those of a man in the process of ‘go.
Stateless persons
Today, the number of stateless people in the world is estimated at nearly 10 million. The fact of not having a country results from migrations, displacements or even a lack of papers, leaving people without rights, without protection of any law, of any State. This is what photographer Chiara Wettmann deals with on film with images of pictorial force which immerse us, among other things, in the daily life of the Palestinian refugee camps in the Lebanese mountains, forcibly displaced and to whom Lebanon refuses to grant citizenship. More recently, Chiara Wettmann produced a second echo series in Ivory Coast in which she bears witness to the struggle of undocumented people, even when they were born in the country.
Tired
By land and sea, photographer Vincent Haiges follows people in their perilous border crossings, in Lesvos, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Niger and the Mediterranean. The photographs reflect moments that shape the daily life of these episodes of life on the edge. The waiting, the anguish, the cold… These images always manage, with the same distance and deep respect, to restore an identity to those whom our world makes invisible. No Borders is Forever.
The exhibition also presents the documentary ‘Les Sauteurs’ by the Ivorian Abou Bakar Sidibé, the poem ‘The Displaced’ by the Afghan Parwana Amiri and an artistic installation by the Turkish director Özlem Sarıyıldız.
Re:Borders : An indictment on view until March 3, 2024 at Bethanien in Berlin.
Kunstquartier Bethanien
Projektraum
Mariannenplatz 2
10997 Berlin
