The nightmare continues
‘Exodus Déjà VuVu’ forces the viewer to reflect on the worldwide refugee crisis
‘Exodus Déjà Vu” lives up to its name. The photographs, displayed over three floors at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, have a strange, fleeting familiarity, bringing to mind memories of current and past events like transient flashes.
“We may feel as though we are flooded with images of conflicts, of refugees, in our everyday lives — but in reality, we know little of what’s going on out there,” says Patrice Valette, the show’s curator and co-ordinator of the global Exodus project, a travelling exhibition that focuses on the flight and plight of refugees on several continents.
Comprising the works of seven photographers of different nationalities and cultures, Exodus Déjà Vu is unique in its refusal to approach the theme from a strictly news perspective, instead allowing viewers to gain more of an overview of the situation.
Photographs taken as recently as 2017 and depicting Syrian refugees attempting to reach Europe meet those dating back to the 1980s and 90s, of Cambodian refugees at the Thai border or Kurds fleeing the threat of chemical warfare in the Middle East.
There’s no doubt that forced migratory movements take place on all continents and have always existed, says Valette. However, through this exhibition, he attempts to reach out to the public and raise awareness about humanitarian crises.
With more than 65 million forcibly displaced people in the world right now, the refugee crisis is sadly becoming no more than a recurring topic that’s part of one’s routine, Valette notes.
While people have become more informed of the global situation, there is a numbness that accompanies the overflow of information and images. “And that’s really dangerous,” he adds.
In the past 18 months, the Kuala Lumpur-based gallery owner has organised presentations of the images and talks with the different photographers in cities across the world in an attempt to raise awareness and break the status quo.
Five to seven photographers were attached to the project from its onset, touring cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Ankara, Istanbul and now Bangkok to tell the public of their experiences covering wars and humanitarian crises in the past decades.
Exodus Déjà Vu was born when Valette initially thought of exhibiting Turkish photographer Coskun Aral’s photographs of Kurd and Iraqi families fleeing from Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons threat in the early 1990s, images that were later integrated into the current show. At the time, the Syrian refugee crisis reached what seemed like its peak and parallels between past and present events started to be drawn.
Aral then introduced Valette to French photographer Roland Neveu, whose coverage of the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975 and subsequent mass exodus of Cambodian refugees to neighbouring countries marked a generation of photojournalists.
“The conception of the exhibition was one chance meeting after another, although I had this idea of a global exhibition from the very beginning,” Valette says.
When Sergey Ponomarev — winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his images of Syrian refugees moving across the Balkan countries — and renowned American-Canadian photographer Greg Constantine embarked on the project, the curator knew he had to gain the support of international organisations such as the United Nations’ Refugee Agency and Amnesty International in order to have a maximal impact.
Thai photographer Suthep Kritsanavarin became attached to the Exodus project last year, and has exhibited alongside the six other photographers in Istanbul and Bangkok.
His ongoing research and coverage of the Rohingya refugee crisis in Southeast Asia and Australia dates back to 2008, when he travelled to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where one of the largest Rohingya refugees camp is located.
It was Suthep’s project-based approach to the topic that seduced Valette and convinced him to seek the photographer’s participation. Unlike many photojournalists covering news events, Suthep was following the Rohingya refugees for nearly a decade and became an expert on this topic, he says.
On the other hand, Suthep adds that he was glad to have found an exhibition format that resembles a platform hosting photography works but also panel discussions, allowing for experiences to be exchanged.
“In today’s media landscape, news comes and goes at a frightening pace, but there is little opportunity to engage with the public.”
The Thai photographer’s work takes viewers from Myanmar’s Yangon and Sittwe, where Rohingya communities are persecuted, to Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and further to Australia.
“I’ve had the idea of following the refugees across the countries since the onset. This way, one can really see they truly have nowhere to go,” he explains.
The exhibition, contrasting in tones, subjects and viewpoints, also joins two generations of photographers, an homage to workers of the same trade. “If images
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In reality, we know little of what’s going on out there
tell a thousand words, then how would we know these stories if it weren’t for the photographers who bring their work back?” Suthep asks.
For Valette, the display of photographs of conflict and humanitarian crisis is perhaps the best cure against numbness and indifference in the face of these events. An image is a medium in itself, free of accompanying commentary that try to sway viewers on one side or the other.
“It’s open for interpretation. Everyone can understand an image in their own way,” he notes. “When you look at a photograph, you first get emotions. But after looking at an entire exhibition, you begin to develop your own reflection on the subject.”