The international travelling exhibition Borders and Beyond was produced by Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in 2001. No less than 182 black and white photographs will be exhibited at Photographers Gallery ZA and Gugu S'Thebe Centre. A border is the interface between national sovereignty and personal freedom of movement. A border is also the dividing line between legality and illegality. People from poor countries are driven to emigrate in anticipation of a better life. Not many succeed in entering the promised land. Many are already deceived along the way, most of them caught long before reaching the destination of their hopes.
Many are already deceived along the way, most of them caught long before reaching the destination of their hopes. People and their destinies fill the exhibition and accompanying book Borders and Beyond. Ten photo stories (and five essays in the book) take us around the globe to places where opposites collide: surfeit and misery, belonging and exclusion, inside and outside. This exhibition and the book are a call to overcome borders.
From the ten international photographers who present us with their stories, Jodi Bieber's photo project was initiated after the devastating floods in Mozambique. At the same time in South Africa, "Operation Crackdown" was in progress as an ongoing initiative by the Police Services to eliminate the high level of crime in the country. With court order in hand, the police swarmed buildings in inner city Johannesburg (Hillbrow) looking for stolen goods and illegal immigrants. The illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries - mostly from Mozambique - were transported by train back to their countries of origin. "Although the Human Rights Commission in South Africa monitors the affairs of immigrants closely, the project sometimes left a bitter aftertaste, a feeling that South Africa has forgotten its dark past.", states Jodi Bieber.
Participating photographers:
Manuel Bauer (1966), Switzerland Tibet: Escape into Exile 1995
Jodi Bieber (1966), South Africa South Africa-Mozambique: Illegality and Repatriation 2000
Julián Cardona (1960), Mexico Mexico-USA: La Frontera 2000
Thomas Kern (1965), Switzerland San Francisco, Chinatown: This Land is Our Land 2000
Joachim Ladefoged (1970), Denmark At Home in Kosovo 1999-2000
Don McCullin (1935), England Cyprus: Civil War 1964/The historical Essay
Valeri Nistratov (1973), Russia Transdniestria: Border Territory as a State 2000
Meinrad Schade (1968), Switzerland Switzerland: Country of Asylum/Country of Transit 1998-2000
Randa Shaath ( 1963), Palestine Palestine: Home as a Prison 2000
Roger Wehrli (1965), Switzerland Gibraltar: Threshold of Fortress Europe 2000
Curator: Daniel Schwartz (1955), Switzerland - Photographer
In conjunction with the exhibition a book has been published in two editions (an Italian/German version and an English/French version). The book will be for sale at the Galeria AMF throughout the exhibition. Copyright © 2001 Arts Council of Switzerland, Pro Helvetia; the Authors; the Photographers.
IMAGE
Meinrad Schade
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