Exiles

The Aegean sea was and still is a place of exile. We know the epic of Ulysses who, while being prisoner of Calypso’s arms, dreams of his return to Ithaca.In the 20th century, the sea became a prison for the communists exiled in Makronissos, Giaros and Agios Efstratios.Nowadays, people fleeing their countries are also stuck at Europe's doors. My journey started on the desolate island Agios Efstratios, where thousand of greek communists were deported after the establishment of the “Idionymo Law”. Then, I traveled to Lesvos island where thousand of refugees are crammed in Moria jail, Kara Tepe and Pikpa camps. The never ending waiting in revolting conditions is now their everyday life. An identity unrest appears. From the waiting comes the boredom. Loss of bearings evolves with future uncertainty. And whilst they fight to escape the horror, the horizon turns dark.

Following confrontations with my own physical and mental limits facing depression, I developped a new series of self-portraits. Using once again repetitive imagery and a consistent aesthetic, I explore the intersection of vulnerability, isolation, and transformation through self-portraiture. Photographing myself during moments of crisis and depression, I seek to capture the disconnect between my inner world and reality.

“The breaking point referred to in Florine Thiebaud’s photographic series is metaphorical rather than explicit. Her camera doesn’t record critical situations but instead portraits, indeterminate landscapes, interiors, still lives and names carved into tree trunks or rock faces. The protagonists, a few young men and a girl, are photographed repeatedly in close-up. They usually look away. The photographer has been allowed to come close but beyond this illusory intimacy — to which photography lends itself so well — we sense, as observers, a wall we cannot breach. We learn nothing about these individuals and yet their physicality, captured by an empathetic camera, is moving.The title of the series seems paradoxical. We are transported to a Mediterranean region where little happens and everything appears to be transitory. The photographer reinforces the agonizing routine of living in a perpetual state of limbo by reproducing similar images and photographing her subjects in situations that differ only subtly. The monotony of drawn-out time is in direct contrast to the disruption promised by the title, but the captions reveal the brutal truth. As soon as we discover where the photographs were taken, our initial interpretation of the images collapses. These people are refugees and the places are internment camps. Chios, Leros and Athens are temporary stops on an endless escape route. By making stagnation her theme, Florine Thiebaud opposes and nuances prevailing alarmist representations of the so-called “refugee crisis”.” Geert Goiris

En Avril 2019, tu disparais. Un mois plus tard, je reçois enfin de tes nouvelles: tu es en détention provisoire à Gand. Je suis soulagée de te savoir vivant, mais cela ne dure pas: Très vite l’inquiétude liée à ta disparition laisse place à la douleur de te savoir enfermé pour une durée indéterminée. Ta disparition, l’attente, les visites, les courts appels, les étreintes… Avec du recul, je me demande si le plus difficile pendant ces plusieurs mois n’était pas la fin des visites, lorsque la porte se refermait derrière toi.