VISITS
After a big migration, a dictatorship, a war, human beings want to radically change the face of a territory and only in few areas one can find layers of these historical passages.
Sestrunj Island, situated in the group of islands in front of Zadar, is like an archeological site to be discovered, to be queried.
You never know what to expect entering an abandoned house: often it’s a shelter for rodents, insects , birds.
Just like those abandoned nests become a refuge for other birds, these homes, often left for others overseas, have become an asylum for civilians in the midst of the Serbian-Croatian conflict.
All the objects that have been left or quickly forgotten hide a deep desire to return.
A figure like an exile, crosses this space as if she could have a dialogue with the few remaining witnesses still there to testify the passage of time.
“Visits” is a reflection, a way to look for answers about migration, bringing to light what has been closed for years, the gestures of an entire life, chasing a sense of belonging to that land, a reconciliation with the choices imposed by the events.
“Visits”, a project created in collaboration with the artist Rita Chessa, tries to examine one of the many facets of the complex and fragmented reality in the Balkans, with no claim to find any truth or evidence but with aim of leaving many open questions.
Rita Chessa
