(At) Home and (On) the Road: Contemporary Photography Techniques of Documenting the Migration Phenomenon

Abstract

The current presentation includes several queries regarding the interaction of migration and globalization – one of the most significant phenomena of social transformation in recent decades, as well as the meanings that this interaction presents for artistic research and practice. The major social and cultural transformations that have taken place in recent decades following more intense migratory movements have sparked an interest among artists for creating visual discourses, which, by using languages specific to different genres and environments, contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about migrants and migratory experiences different from the discourses generally offered and exploited by the media and public opinion. In cultural studies, the mobility turn also influences how contemporary art reflects on the direct and indirect implications of migration. The selection of works we analysed (which mainly use the medium of documentary photography) challenges the way we understand the notions of space and time, by exploring ideas regarding the concepts of (at)home and road, which are, moreover, two of the notions that undergo most changes during migratory experiences. The artistic projects selected reconsider defining the concept of (at)home as the place where the individual builds his sense of belonging, referring only to the physical house and not just to a single house set in an immovable place, but considering multiple connotations of the idea of home. Migrants' personal narratives reveal the ways in which individuals move between multiple homes, developing attachments and reinventing their identities along the way. Considering both the international context of migration and the particular case of Romanian economic migration as a recent phenomenon with important socio-cultural implications, I sought to investigate through my own artistic practice how documentary photography can become an environment for reflection on the topic, by combining autobiographical elements and a subjective discourse added to the objective dimension.