The Greek islands neighbouring the Turkish coast have become the unofficial ‘gate’ for refugees trying to cross into Citadel Europe over the past year.
Lesvos is perhaps the largest ‘island’ on the archipelago of the ‘migrant corridor’, along which physical and social space are set under constant negotiation. The rugged, mountainous coastline of the north is perforated by synthetic piles of survival. The social terrain is in flux with displaced people, locals and volunteers renegotiating social space in the island.
Displaced Witness asks the viewer to bare spatial witness to the people and landscape of Lesvos.
Stepping from the centre of the installation viewers begin an act of sensory transportation. The sound of the Lesvos coastline meets their ears, pebbles crunch beneath their feet. A visual testimony emerges from a whirling cloud of points. They are confronted with a portrait or landscape from Lesvos.
‘Displaced Witness’ takes place on a homogeneous surface of transplanted 1 meter by 1 meter textures from the island of Lesvos, digitally re-enacted from 3D scan data.