DÉPLACÉ·E·S

Gallerie d’Italia – Torino
Piazza San Carlo 156, Torino
from 9 February to 16 July 2023

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Artist's statement

When I say "hope," I don't mean hope for anything in particular.
I guess I just mean thinking that it's worth it to keep one's eyes open.
Maggie Nelson

In 2022, the number of individuals forced to flee their place of residence because of persecutions, wars, violence and human rights violations has exceeded the ominous threshold of 100 million. This emergency is now compounded by food and energy shortages, inflation and climate-related crises. In many countries of Africa, the Middle East, South America, at the gates of Europe, populations are being forced to abandon their homes to ensure their survival elsewhere. The war in Ukraine has prompted the most abrupt and one of the largest forced exiles since World War II. A symbol of this endless tragedy, the Greek island of Lesbos is the scene of the ebb and flow of migrants arriving by sea as the conflicts develop. This geography of forced relocation constitutes “off-limit locations” that are given excess media attention and are invisible at the same time. It is the entire paradox of our relationship to representations of current events that JR strives to avoid to convince us that it is worth keeping our eyes open. 

Valeriia, Thierry, Andiara, Angel, Jamal, Ajara, Moise and Mozhda are the names and faces of the children who embody these forced migrations. By enlarging their portrait on huge banners, JR gives back an identity to those who are deprived of it. Their effigy unfolds in a fleeting and spontaneous manner during collective processions as well as picnics organised in the heart of their transitory environment: on the Opera Square in Lviv (Ukraine), in the camps of Mugombwa (Rwanda), Mbera (Mauritania), Lesbos (Greece), in the host community of Cúcuta (Colombia)… They are from Ukraine, Congo, Venezuela, Mali, Afghanistan but the same posture unites them. The body moving forward in a conquering race, the rebellious smile and a youthful aura: their life force braves the worst pangs of exile. To the rationales of dehumanisation, JR contrasts a sensitive experience from a child’s perspective. Far from media stereotypes, the human condition is fully revealed through the hope personified by youth. These children look at us by establishing a relationship of reciprocity between them, us and the future.

The camps are not only places of daily life for millions of people, they have become one of the major components of globalisation, one of the world’s types of organisation: a way to deal with those who are unwanted, with that we do not want to look into the eyes. In the service of something bigger than himself, JR's art creates tension between the visible and the invisible to resist the trivialisation of perspectives. Ten years ago, the anthropologist Michel Agier deplored the lack of "prominence" of refugees and displaced persons which seals their exclusion from society forever: “Hannah Arendt referred to this exclusion of refugees as a “social death”. I think there is an urgent need to make the camps well-known, all forms of camps”. This is the goal of this exhibition.