An exhibition at St James Cavalier in Valletta, forming part of the RIMA Project, is trying to change perceptions on migration.
"To be [defined]" articulates two main concepts about migration and exile: definition and construction on one side and deconstruction and resistance on the other.
“We first meant to put forward some of the pre-fixed imaginaries which tend to spring to mind when it comes to issues such as migration, exile and displacement; so there are the office and the borders, the images of the open centre, a man in the sea, the despair… all the details of the stories we expect to find in such contexts,” said curator Virginia Monteforte.
“At the same time, we put in between these evident and visible lines also something unexpected and disturbing, and we invite the audience to revise their ideas, their position on the issue and the perspective of their glance.”
The exhibition is made up of videos, pictures, collected objects, stories, installations and recordings.
According to Dr Monteforte, however, the entire display is an artwork in itself as the pieces are “arranged and placed in communication with each other”.
She also said that the trajectory is “incredibly rich”.
“There are new languages, new fluid words and new objects aimed at the proposal of new imaginaries about displacement in order to deconstruct pre-structured ideas,” she noted.
Dr Monteforte said that the purpose of all this is to show that what one imagines about migration is not universal but “the product of circumstantial processes and, therefore, open to the possibility of change”.
She also stresses that this “world of ideas and imagination” is not just an abstraction as it has an important and concrete effect on people’s lives.
"To be [defined]" also takes into account the resistance of the subjects, that is how each person manages to reclaim their subjectivity and their identity as individuals beyond the label they are given of migrants.
Research for the exhibition started with the anthropological project RIMA in 2014. This led to a continuous process of contacts, exchanges, collaborations and ideas.
Among others, the team – which includes Kristina Borg as exhibition designer and Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet as cultural adviser – collaborated with Archivio delle Memorie Migranti, which is based in Rome, with Viaggi Solidali of Turin and Non-lieux de l’exil of Paris.
“The main aim, from the beginning, has always been the creation of a fluid ‘archive of displacement’, linked to other similar archives and projects in the Mediterranean,” Dr Monteforte pointed out.
“This exhibition is an important objective with regards to that particular element of the project.”
The team brought in a number of local and foreign artists to take part in the exhibition.
These are Moira Agius (Malta), Mario Badagliacca (Italy), Gilbert Calleja (Malta), Glen Calleja (Malta), Katel Delia (France/Malta), Mirna Danijan (Turkey), Emmanuel Guillaud (France), Alberto Favaro (Italy/Malta), André Désiré Loutsono (Republic of Congo), Immanuel Mifsud (Malta), Nadja Mifsud (Malta), M. and Rubina Mohamed (Libya), Malik Nejmi (Morocco/France), Aurélie Percevault (France), Guy Woueté (Republic of Cameroon/Belgium) and Hassan Yassin (Sudan).
Some artists were once migrants themselves, or better yet, “people who experienced migration”, said Dr Monteforte.
However, she prefers not to call them ‘migrant artists’.
“We call them by their names, as we do with all other artists,” she said.
“That’s how we change our perspective on things. Starting by discourses, by the words we use, by the definitions we give.
“To define is to limit and I would like to keep all the artists who contributed to the exhibition on the same level, not separated by labels.”
To be [defined] forms part of the cultural programme of Valletta 2018, European Capital of Culture (Exile and Conflict strand, curated by Elise Billiard Pisani). It is also supported by the French Embassy, Vodafone Foundation, iCentre, UNHCR and Heritage Malta. It runs until November 4.
Auxiliary events
Other events are taking place around To be [defined].
These include a debate and reading titled Rethinking Borders… Africa in Rome with anthropologist Giulia Casentini (University of Tor Vergata) and Giulia Riva (Libreria Griot), tomorrow at 7pm at Studio Solipsis in Rabat, and another debate titled Narrating the Exile: Memory and History in Displacement with anthropologists Marie-Caroline Saglio (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales), Alessandro Triulzi (Archivio Memorie Migranti), David Zammit (University of Malta), on October 25, at 7pm at Studio B, St James Cavalier.
The RIMA Film Festival was held as part of the exhibition last week and a book launch, details of which are still under wraps, will take place on November 3.
