We too lived in a camp… from the ‘80s until today

In this section, artists now resident in Europe, the United States and Canada evoke the life they spent in the past in refugee camps: an experience that profoundly marked their lives.

In 1980, sculptor Pham The Trung sought refuge from Vietnam in the Songhkla Camp, Thailand, before eventually relocating to Canada. Similar narratives unfold as artists from Sudan, Rwanda, and Ivory Coast share their experiences in more recent times at the Moria camp in Greece and the Mönchengladbach camp in Germany. Despite occurring at distinct points in time, across various geographical locations and political contexts, their stories bear striking resemblances.

This is, in fact, the same story shared by millions of people who are forced to flee and rebuild a new life elsewhere. Yet it is not just one story, but a multitude of different stories, and each one is unique because each person who tells it, each artist who paints it, has lived it in their own way. These are stories that, once told, aim to influence a world that often fails to return the homelands to those who had to leave them behind in order to safeguard their own lives.