Defragmenting Visual Representations of Border Lampedusa: Intersubjectivity and Memories from the Horn of Africa

Abstract

After an introduction on the role of subjectivity in the interpretation of visual and oral sources, the paper analyses excerpts from an interview with Meron, a man who fled from Eritrea to Europe. During the interview, the author asked him to draw a map of the journey from his place of origin to Italy. His “map” reveals human geographies. Its analysis provides the means to make visible the memories of the diaspora, which are either invisible or invisiblized by the ongoing spectacularization of the border. This representation is compared with those produced by LiveUAmap, a collective project created by activists, and with some artistic and visual renditions of Lampedusa. The paper ends questioning the possibility to narrate the events unfolding in the Mediterranean.