Dépaysement
Dépaysement means a sense of disorientation or a change of scenery that results from being in a country that isn’t home.
Since the 1990s and the Kosovo war, Calais has become a refuge for thousands of people fleeing hardship, a pause in a continuing search for home. The signing of the Treaty of le Touquet saw the movement of Britain’s border to French soil. The British government invested fifteen million euros to build fences along the coastline. In 2015, two hundred and fifty acres of trees were razed to the ground to remove cover for undocumented migrants and to facilitate video surveillance.
The perspective from outside the camp – dominant media reportage conducive to fear and hostility, and the physical manifestation of this in the form of the securitisation of the area – represents a manufacturing of fear based on political interests. During the demolition of the camp, graffiti scrawled on shelters proclaimed ‘lieu de vie’, underlining the sense of human life caught in political crossfire.
This work was made from 2015-2016 and is accompanied by transcriptions of graffiti from the now-demolished refugee camp, widely known as The Jungle.
Mr Cameron? Hold on we have a message for you...
Darfour is Bleeding
Together we are stronger
Never give up
No war
We all brothers Daniel, Temie, Ortiega Eritrea
Peace
Good luck
Ensemble
Hope
I miss you mom
Ethiopia
No justice
The press chat shit
Jungle vortex
Never give up
Terrien vas pas te taire sans terre tes rien
Ma vie est entre vos mains merci d’y faire attention
Sudan help us
Humans after all
I want free people and a good life for all
Where is my country?
Bring the love stop the war Merci xxx
We just want to go to England PLEASE
Bonjour comment-allez vous? Bien merci mais j’aimerai bien que mon rêve soit partagé pour devenir une réalité autre
Nous devons tous apprendre à vivre ensemble comme des frères, si non nous allons mourir ensemble comme des idiots
Malgré toutes les difficultés on a toujours le sourire aux lèvres
La pauvreté n’est pas un accident comme l’esclavage et l’apartheid elle a été faite par l’homme et peut être supprimée par des actions communes de l’humanité
Black is not a crime Im proud to be black
Where the streets have no name
Common health
I love Afghan
Fly, bird
London spirit
Bonjour we are humans
Voice of refugees meeting place
Afghan peopl want peace
He wanted to believe in a futur
Graffiti from the so-called ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, collated December 2015
Authors Unknown
No gas
No more war
Stop wars now
Left behind what about their dreams
A life is worth hundreds
Hello my name is a sign of my idea left on a boat without captain
Prison a ciel ferme
Think about the world
You’ll never walk alone
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Liberty
You can’t kill your slave
I stand
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
Lieu de vie
…
Graffiti from the so-called ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, collated March 2016
Authors Unknown