We propose to present a photographic project called Sui Generis. It will consist of a series of photographs reflecting on the contradictory topics of migration and homeland. The stereotype is that homeland for immigrants is a site of nostalgia, and -especially for western culture- it is something like the lost paradise.
We are immigrants who want to participate in our surroundings and create an exchange with the others. We come from peoples whose countries were intervened, and as artists, we want to create public art interventions. We want to intervene in the lives of others, as well as in their social and cultural spheres. We want to treat interventions as a political manifestation.
Today, major fights in our countries are for the possession of land. The project will reflect on these problems as well as the idea of immigrants as trans-cultural and transnational subjects. The problems addressed, which are drawn from our cultural backgrounds or homelands, will translate into three images, which are: First, the Latin American indigenous or first nations’s march with their request for land. Second, the trip by train made by poor people from the south in their way to the rich north. Third, the trip made by many emigrants when they need to travel with all their stuff or utensils. These issues are shown in our photos and commented and criticized in our workshops.
These three images are from people that march on, walking on their path from one place to the other, from one identity to another. To be on a march is the trans-national proposal and trans-cultural idea behind the project. For our young artists, art can emerge from the challenge of uprooting and relocating in a new country. Our project provides an opportunity for these young artists to respond artistically to this time in history in which immigrants are facing many challenges globally and locally. |
