Performed as a pilgrimage, Declarations I: On the Move is a response to the traumas of forced/voluntary migration, as well as a declaration of universal right to freedom of movement. Between January and April 2016, I made a journey along the “refugee route” in reverse, from Germany through Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece to Turkey. At every stop I met with migrants and refugees (many were still on the move and some had settled) as well as artists and activists who supported freedom of movement and refugee rights. Drawing on my own experience as a 1980s refugee, I worked with locals and created alternative spaces for interaction through sharing of food and culture. I broadcast this ground journey on a blog and a Facebook page, and through a series of site-specific mailart that was dispatched to subscribers by post as I traveled. These media recorded some of the stories that had been shared with me and my own observations and reflections.

The journey produced a large archive including video and audio pieces, photography, journal writing, sketches, mailart, three installations, publication and a vast network of relations. A selection was exhibited in a solo show at Gallerie JolibaZwo in Berlin in 2017, and one of the installations was exhibited in the group show Grieving Empire at A Space.

On the Move archive is available for exhibition and can be reconfigured to be site specific.

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