Joanna Pianka ARTIST

Belhassen Handous, Joanna Pianka, Tomash Schoiswohl
...off your shoes

The Geneva Convention defines who a refugee is and who is granted asylum. But asylum procedures in Europe take years, forcing people to unconventional solutions and survival methods. Classism and racism are categorising refugees, leaving many of them in unviable conditions.

Lacking language skills, the wrong colour of the skin and cultural differences mark the starting point of an endless labyrinth of bureaucratic and civic obstacles. Trauma, debt, precarious or illegal employment conditions, shady rental contracts and the lack of direct contact to relatives cause not only instability itself, but result in overstraining, serious health issues, tendencies to substance abuse, violence and many other problems. Even one unpaid bill can lead into a chain of events with the consequence social and societal exclusion.

The first generation of refugees is lost without the appropriate support. Even, if these people learn the national language very fast and do their best: They are always behind, they run after an unreachable life. Finally arrived in a safe country everything starts over. Everyday life is an unmanageable energy draining struggle, based on the unsolved inequality, legal framework and social attitude. Refugees welcome! But what happens then?

People, who were forced to escape, must take off their shoes not in a gesture of respect, but involuntarily in many humiliating situations. On a dangerous journey from their origin country to a so called safe one, but also during inspections by authorities or in a moment, where everything is not your own anymore. A person, who is not wearing shoes in a crowded European capital is the most visible sign of a life out of control. Loosing or abandoning them seems to be is an event with a painful or unexpected background. But what are the stories behind them?

Following the path of lost shoes in the city, I started to photograph them and connect to stories from people with a refugee background who I knew or encountered personally. Stories about loosing not only the own footgear, but personal relations, jobs, money and opportunities. Running, stumbling or just shoes that are too big or falling apart. Sometimes it is a little moment that leaves us without something we are taking for granted.

The initial point of the installation was the act of taking off shoes – in many ways and meanings. In the exhibition the visitors are asked to take their own off – as a sign of a deeper connection to the ground and the exhibits. The installation is also a shelf for these shoes. They line up between the artworks in shelfs of identical size.

I will never know the real story behind these shoes but giving each one of them an orchestrated stage is shifting the perspective of the observer. The photographs reappear as cut out screen prints on acrylic glass hanging from the ceiling of a black box, projected on a blank sheet of paper, which is forming a screen. The shoes are coming back together in pairs, one is sharp and visible in the projection, the other one is blurred, disappearing. The shapes are hanging on thin lines. Each movement in the room causes a little shake and the scene starts to come alive. The people who lost these shoes can never stand still, they are always on the move, they can never rest. Running from one place to another, wearing donated shoes in the wrong size, being always late for an appointment after a full day of responsibilities or working two jobs while losing the most precious relationships to other people. Some of them break down and lose control in their life.

Moments of oblivion, shame and being not enough formed the text for a lecture performance that is showing some of the stories behind the scene in emotional and intense monologues and dialogues.

Collaborations

Corrispondenze Magazine
Corrispondenze: Archive Publication (1/24)

Corrispondenze is participation-based artistic and editorial project, born in Turin in 2021 from the collaboration between Paola Boscaini and Cristina Materassi.

Over the years, Corrispondenze has proposed activities of reflection and shared investigation on the theme of dwelling, as well as the publication of a series of artistic editorial products, conceived as a platform for relations and archiving in constant evolution.

> Corrispondenze is a collection of stories, thoughts, and words that explore the meaning of inhabiting a space in a particular geographical area. It deals with territories, mapping places, and proposes potential methods for crossing and understanding them.

The goal of the project is to create a common space for the imagination and a collective reflection on the theme of dwelling, through an artistic practice that takes shape from places and communities.

Corrispondenze: Archive will be developed in five parts during 2024. The first four booklets present the editorial transposition of four artistic projects, realised through a process of collaboration between the editors and the participants. The fifth volume offers a collection of texts analysing the theme from various perspectives, alongside a creative reinterpretation of these insights by a group of students.

(images and text by Corrispondenze)