The trees
are quiet observers of our life. They provide oxygen, fruits, shade
in a hot day. When I was a boy, I felt a connection with a particular
pine tree close to mountains in Slovakia. I also remeber well a
cherry tree in a garden of my grandfather – sitting on it's
branches in summer collecting cherries.
Whether
we are from Europe or Middle East, from a peaceful region or a war or
poverty stroken place, there are certain moments from our life and
especially childhood, which we all share. From this perspective, a
migrating person is just someone searching for the same calmness and
security he or she once had, in the midst of global events. Like a
tree, cut out of some of it's roots and replanted in another place.
It is a difficult process. Not every tree can adapt easily to new
conditions. This project is based on interviews with people who had
to move and those who helped them in their new home. Some of them did
both.
Those
people are an Iraqi artist living in Vienna, Viennese of turkish
origin managing a community project for children, Iraqui refugee from
a refugee house in Vienna, Syrian performance artist living in Beirut
and Amsterdam, an Austrian managing a project for refugees in Vienna
and a community worker in a refugee house (Hotel Favorita). I would
like to thank to all of them for their kind help.
