Berni SEARLE South African, b. 1964
Flight (Seeking Refuge series), 2008
Archival digital print
112 x 154 cm
Edition of 5 + 2AP
Seeking Refuge (video and prints) was originally commissioned by the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM). Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, for an exhibition called Traversiá. (17 October 2008...
Seeking Refuge (video and prints) was originally commissioned by the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM). Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, for an exhibition called Traversiá. (17 October 2008 ).
Short artist’s statement:
As the curatorial statement for the Bamako Encounters African Photography Biennial 2009 suggests, “humanity ceaselessly seeks sites of refuge and reference points for values in territories offering possibilities for identifications and putting down roots”.
Rather than dealing with the migration of people from neighboring African countries, which is often accompanied by traumatic experiences and drastic consequences, I chose to focus on the tenacity of people to survive in places which are often threatening and harsh, highlighting the instinct for survival and the will/desire to make these new places of encounters ‘home’.
The landscape is explored as a place in which one can ambiguously find a place of rest within the seemingly inhospitable landscape, and one in which there is a potential to be engulfed, succumbing to the extremities that the landscape presents.
Short artist’s statement:
As the curatorial statement for the Bamako Encounters African Photography Biennial 2009 suggests, “humanity ceaselessly seeks sites of refuge and reference points for values in territories offering possibilities for identifications and putting down roots”.
Rather than dealing with the migration of people from neighboring African countries, which is often accompanied by traumatic experiences and drastic consequences, I chose to focus on the tenacity of people to survive in places which are often threatening and harsh, highlighting the instinct for survival and the will/desire to make these new places of encounters ‘home’.
The landscape is explored as a place in which one can ambiguously find a place of rest within the seemingly inhospitable landscape, and one in which there is a potential to be engulfed, succumbing to the extremities that the landscape presents.