top of page
Beyond the border.
Migration and multilingual signs at European borderscapes
By Luca Prestia & Federico Faloppa
Online exhibition
The ongoing project Beyond the border. Signs of passages across the European borders by photographer Luca Prestia and sociolinguist Federico Faloppa looks at different European borders, or “borderscapes”, with the intention to observe those strips of land and collect and record traces of presences, passages, interactions: acts of resilience, resistance, and existence. It looks at these borderscapes without judging and without resorting to the usual categorisations that we are used to from the media’s common representation of the so-called “refugee problem”. The four borderscapes presented here are Ventimiglia, the last Italian town before the French border and the Côte d’Azur; the regions of Piedmont and Hautes-Alpes, also at the Italian-French border; Lesvos, the Greek island that has become a landing and stranding place for thousands of people on the move; and finally Bihać, a Bosnian town along the Balkan route close to the border with Croatia.
The exhibition suggests an alternative way to look at the borderscapes as a crucible of humanity, to question those pictures, and question ourselves as viewers; and to see languages and multilingualism as a possible way to unseal cultural, if not geopolitical, borders. You can read more about the project here.
Vučjak refugee camp – Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019
00:00 / 00:28
The camp of Vučjak was set up by the municipality of Bihać in the spring of 2019, and it was shut in the following winter. Build on a dump, it hosted around 100 tents, and ca. 800 people, only men. To facilitate communication and prevent tensions among migrants, many tents were organised by language or country of origin.
Vučjak refugee camp – Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019
00:00 / 00:28
The camp of Vučjak was set up by the municipality of Bihać in the spring of 2019, and it was shut in the following winter. Build on a dump, it hosted around 100 tents, and ca. 800 people, only men. To facilitate communication and prevent tensions among migrants, many tents were organised by language or country of origin.
Vučjak refugee camp – Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019
00:00 / 00:27
In Vučjak camp, some key instructions – like the one displayed in this picture – were provided in English, although English was spoken and understood by just a minority of migrants. Furthermore, most migrants had low levels of literacy and could barely read: written instructions did not mean much to them, despite being crucial to their survival.
Objects left behind on the trail to Croatia Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019
00:00 / 01:25
A few kilometres away from Bihać, along a national road, there is the official border with Croatia, and a check point to control documents and prevent migrants to cross the border. However, 500 hundred meters before the check point, on the right-hand site of the national road, a wood trail across the hills that separate the two countries begins. This is the trail that migrants do, mainly in the night, to try to cross the border and not been seen. The more the trail gest into the wood, the more objects left behind by migrants you can find. First, thermal blankets, heavy clothes, or shoes that may not be adequate to run in the wood; then any object that may look superfluous (such as kid’s toys, personal effects); than any piece of paper that could identify them (for the Dublin agreement, if caught by the police in any EU state, a migrant can be sent back to the first EU country he/she arrived in); then food and, right before the unofficial borderline dividing Bosnia and Croatia, water: thousands of empty bottles of water, as this is the last thing migrants get rid of before crossing and running not to get caught.
The five-kilometres walk from the refugee camp of Vučjak to the town of Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019. Vučjak refugee camp – Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 2019
00:00 / 00:20
This is the five-kilometres trail from Vučjak camp to the outskirt of Bihać, that migrants did at least twice a day to buy some food and water. In Bihać, people did not pay much attention to them anymore: they were invisible, alien bodies.
A map indicating places where migrants could be safely relocated in France after crossing the Italian-French border, on a wall of the migrant shelter managed by French humanitarian associations in Briançon (France), July 2020
00:00 / 00:29
If not caught while crossing the border, migrants have the opportunity to rest in a shelter that French humanitarian associations have set up in Briançon. Here, they are given not only food and a place to stay overnight, but also information and further instructions on how to reach their destinations. Their journey in France, or across France, has just begun…
Messages left by migrants in the migrant shelter managed by French humanitarian associations in Briançon (France), July 2020
00:00 / 00:31
In the Briançon shelter, the living room’s wall are covered with messages and drawings – in different shapes, sizes, and languages – left by migrants, to say something about themselves and their stories, to share political claims, to try to get connected with each other, or just to celebrate a safe stay after a dangerous journey along the alpine trails.
“The West kills Africa”, on a wall of the migrant shelter managed by French humanitarian associations in Briançon (France), July 2020.
00:00 / 00:31
In the Briançon’s shelter, the living room’s wall are covered with messages and drawings – in many shapes, sizes, and languages – left by migrants, to say something about themselves and their stories, to try to get connected with each other, to just celebrate a safe stay after a perilous journey along alpine trails. Some of these messages are also political claims, to express frustration, discontent, awareness.
Graffiti against geopolitical borders along the road leading to France in the upper Susa Valley nearby Clavière (Italy), July 2020
00:00 / 00:32
In the Upper Susa Valley, for historical reasons anarchic and radical left-wing political movements have been very active for many years. In the last few years, they have played a huge role in materially and psychologically supporting migrants who have tried to cross the Italian-French border, and in claiming the political importance of such action through their counter-discourse about borders and freedom of movement.
Moria refugee camp, Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 00:46
Moria Reception and Identification Centre, better known as Moria Refugee Camp, was the largest refugee camp in Europe until it was burned down in September 2020. It was located outside the village of Moria, on the island of Lesbos. Enclosed with barbed wire and fences, the military camp served as a European Union “hotspot”. It was described by Human Rights Watch as an open air prison. This picture was taken in May 2019, when the camp hosted several thousands of people, among which many children
Handprints on a container shelter, Moria refugee camp – Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 00:25
Among the different signs that we found in Lesvos, these handprints left on a container at Moria refugee camp visually stood out: they had been made during an artistic activity organised by one of the several NGOs that, just outside the official military camp, provided shelters and some form of material and psychological support to migrants.
Class of English language at Lesvos Solidarity facility outside Moria refugee camp - Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 00:49
Outside Moria, a coalition of civil society organisations, under the umbrella of Lesvos solidarity, set up a few buildings where migrants from Moria could spend their time attending classes of languages, labs, social events. For the people in the Moria camp, who could not know for how long they should stay there (weeks? Months?), and had not much to do but waiting before being relocated, participating in cultural or practical activities could keep their morale and motivation up. Also, they could feel they were supported and given the chance to support and help other people, for example by becoming language facilitators themselves.
The so-called “life jackets cemetery”, Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 01:06
From 2015 to 2017, hundreds of thousands of migrants landed in Lesvos, coming from Syria, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Pakistan, Iraq. Just a few maritime miles separate Lesvos from the coast of Turkey, and this is the reason why this route to Greece and the EU was so important and busy before the Greek navy and Frontex sealed it. Hundreds of thousands of life jackets – worn by migrants during the crossing – were found by the inhabitants of Lesvos, who came along the coast to provide migrants with a first aid. Life jackets were then removed from the coast by the same inhabitants of the island, and then moved inland far away from the coastline and, especially, from the tourists’ sights. In 2019, the “life jackets cemetery” counted at least a quarter of a million jacket, plus tens of boats which had been used to cross that narrow strait.
Language class at Lesvos Solidarity Centre in Mytilene – Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 00:24
In Mytilene, a coalition of civil society organisations coordinated under the umbrella of Lesvos solidarity has been providing migrants with support and services, among which legal and administrative assistance and classes of languages. In this centre, some rooms were specifically used for language teaching and literacy classes.
Asylum seekers waiting to receive information at Lesvos Solidarity Centre in Mytilene – Lesvos (Greece), May 2019
00:00 / 00:23
In Mytilene, a coalition of civil society organisations coordinated under the umbrella of Lesvos solidarity has been providing migrants with support and services, among which legal and administrative assistance, and classes of languages. In this picture, a couple is wating to receive information from a volunteer of Lesvos Solidarity.
Orientation map of border crossing points at Clavière (Italy) found at Ventimiglia, 200 kilometres south of Clavière, August 2019
00:00 / 00:45
This map was made by civil society organisations 200 kilometres away from Ventimiglia, to help migrant cross the border between north Piedmont and Haute Savoy in France. However, we found it in Ventimiglia, on a trail leading to Côte d’Azur. Why was it there? Wen can just make hypothesis. Maybe after trying at Claviere, and failing, someone got here to try to cross the Italian-French border again, but from a different place. Or maybe someone thought that that map could also be useful in Ventimiglia. Or maybe, simply, someone wanted to get rid of any evidence that he/she had been also in Claviere…
Signs to alert migrants of possible dangers along the trail from Ventimiglia (Italy) to Menton (France), August 2019
00:00 / 00:30
In Ventimiglia civil society organisations tried to help migrants cross the border and avoid check points by the French police. On a trail along the “Hill of the dead” (“passo della morte”, as it is called in Italian), signs were painted on rocks to provide directions and signal possible dangers along the way. It is easy to get lost on the alpine trails between Italy and France, and many people have died just because they have taken the wrong pathway.
An informal check point set up by the French border patrol on the hills above the city of Menton (France), August 2019
00:00 / 00:28
The official border between Italy and France is a few kilometres away, along the cost. Highly patrolled, it is normally avoided by migrants, who prefer to try to cross the border by walking along one of the trails on the hills between Ventimiglia and Menton. However, in time also these trails have been heavily surveilled by the French Police, which has set up some random check points.
Waiting to cross the Italian-French border Ventimiglia (Italy), July 2017
00:00 / 00:28
The official border between Italy and France is a few kilometres away, along the cost. Highly patrolled, it is normally avoided by migrants, who prefer to try to cross the border by walking along one of the trails on the hills between Ventimiglia and Menton. However, in time also these trails have been heavily surveilled by the French Police, which has set up some random check points.
A motorway bridge as a shelter - Ventimiglia (Italy), July 2017
00:00 / 00:12
Migrants could get stranded in Ventimiglia for weeks, if not for months. And for many of them, this motorway bridge has been the only available shelter.
The “Hope” sign, and colourful knots left by migrants on the fence at the Italian-French border at ‘Hill of the dead’ (Italy), July 2017
00:00 / 00:23
Probably put by some human right activist, this sign has been visible for some time on one of the fences at the Italian-French border, on the hills above Ventimiglia. On the same fence, anyone who managed to cross the border made a colourful knot to celebrate and to reinforce the hope message.
bottom of page