My Past is a Foreign Country

Statement:

"My Past is a Foreign Country"

The exhibition invites twelve artists from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Cyprus to reflect on the palimpsest histories of the island and examine borderland cultures, collective traumas, and forms of iasis**.

Through eight in-situ new works, four existing works and a plurality of mediums - including sculptures, paintings, textiles, ceramics, installations, and photography – the invited artists touch upon the conflicted historical imaginations and the memory that they construct.

Resisting geo-political anxieties, the artists form cross-cultural intimacies and highlight collective solidarity and kinship while strengthening forms of representation and inclusivity within the diverse social fabric of Chios.

Temenos Hamidiye (or Mbairakli mosque) was rebuilt to honor the victims of the Chios earthquake of 1881 and its devastating effects, which heavily impacted the whole island, including the two exhibition venues.

Inevitably the recent destructive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria create associations with the island’s past, by drawing connections between these natural disasters and their socio-political aftermaths.

The exhibition highlights the enduring impact of such events on vulnerable communities across time and borders and offers a space for grief, mourning and reflection on the human condition which unites us all with the past, with each other and with the here and now; while at the same time it sheds light to the resilience of the humankind and the powerful story telling of local communities which enhances the narrative of the global community.

On the other side, The Baths served as a site of cultural and social exchange and a place of cleansing in the lives of Chios Castle's inhabitants during the Ottoman Empire. In the 20th century, both venues, the Baths and the Temenos, were used as sanctuary for refugees from Asia Minor during the exchange of populations.

Today, the activation of the Eastern Mediterranean pathways, led to refugees being temporarily hosted in the Castle's entrance located in a walking distance from the venues before settling in the hot spot facilities outside the city of Chios.

The phrase has extensively been used in other publications, screenings, films, talks, music albums including Zeba Talkhani's memoir on growing up in Saudi Arabia and her quest for freedom through education in India, Germany and England.

The multiplicities of the title’s origin, and the specificity into the Chios context, provide new strands of meaning into how we deal with the past, the overlooked, and the forgotten.