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- Human Rights Institute gallery, Kean University, Union, NJ
Feb 1 - June 20 2018 curated by Neil Tetkowski
multimedia installation with 3 videoprojections, 72x26x11(h) ft, 2018 see video
fabric, wire netting, fiber glass net, spray paint, copper and iron threads
special thanks to the migrants, men and women, who made the realization of the videos within the installation possible
photos by Massimo Marini
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photo by Massimo Marini
Images of men, women and children packed on makeshift boats risking death at the mercy of the waters of the Mediterranean can not help but change the consciousness and sensibility of all of us. Processing through art this nothing less than momentous tragedy, can be meaningful. As an artist, I feel a deep need and ethical responsibility to do so.
Nevertheless, with this site-specific work, I have attempted to represent not solely a physical journey - that of those who are forced to risk their lives in hope of a different destiny, but also an interior journey, an interior journey of transformation which every man and woman may have to undertake in order to overcome anything that does not allow us to be completely human.
A transformation only possible through the encounter with and acceptance of that which is different, unknown and so to be feared -the threat that the stranger represents in our collective unconscious, which implies the recognition in others of our shared humanity without which a truly just world is not possible.
Remains of what was once a shelter, fragments of everyday objects caught in ripped nets, adrift after a shipwreck, create a sort of theatrical setting which convey feelings of displacement and laceration. From the darkness of a lifeless, desert -like landscape, the viewer is channeled along a path which finally leads to the encounter with those who, having braved death, can now tell us with words and expressions of their present lives.
The video at the end of this imaginary journey features the Togolese migrante, a victim, like many others, of xenophobic intolerance, whose wounding triggered the violent events that took place in Rosarno in 2010.
Franca Marini, January 2018
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photos by Marco Giamello
- photos by Massimo Marini
photos by Marco Giamello
- photo by Neil Tetkowski
the kean University students' celebration of
African Heritage Month 2018took place on February 1st in the Human Rights Institute gallery at the same time as the opening
of
Transnational Migration and Immigration exhibition
videos by Neil Tetkowski
- the Transnational Migration and Immigration art project included not solely the realization of the installation in the Human Rights Institute gallery but also activities and didactic sessions. They were an expression of the artist’s commitment to her art project at HRI and of her determination to explore more deeply migration issues while engaging Kean University students
photos by Franca Marini
documentaries on migration issues selected by the artist were shown outside the gallery on campus for the duration of the exhibition, February 1- June 2018 download docs list
among them also the video a new life realized by Franca Marini see video and video’s description
didactic panels on migration issues were realized by curator Neil Tetkowski.
They hung on the hallway in front of the gallery entrance. The artist submited a synthetic research on migration phenomenon from Africa into Europe from 2013 to 2017 which was used as foundation material for their realization download pdf research
in collaboration with Labe European Project - Lampedusa Berlin Travel Journey Project - the artist organized interactive skype sessions between Kean University students, their professors – Prof. Sara Compion and Prof. Dennis Klein – and representatives of Labe Project who work with migrants in Europe:
- on February 5 with Herbert Splinder, who assists unaccompanied minor refugees in Berlin
- on February 6 with Alberto Mallardo, a member of Mediterranean Hope organization involved in disembarking and giving assistance to migrants in Lampedusa download labe pdf download Mediterranean Hope pdf
with thanks for the kind collaboratiton to Lorenzo Filippeschi, creator of LaBe project and Giovanna Lachi, president of Associazione Punto 8
photos by Marco Giamello
the artist with curator Neil Tetkowski, HRI gallery student docents, prof. Anna Shukeylo and her class
class visits to
Transnational Migration and immigration installation were set up by Kean University professors. Students were asked to write about their interactive experience with the artwork. Heartfelt thanks to prof. Sara Compion, Dennis Klein and Anna Shukeylo. Many thanks also to the students for their thoughtful thoughts and comments on the installation.
Special thanks to St. John's University, Jamaica, NY, professor Liza Papi for arranging a field trip to HRI gallery at Kean University with her students.
students’ comments at the following links pdf 1 pdf 2 pdf 3 pdf 4
photos by Marco Giamello
