tracing Godwin


tracing Godwin



... follows the trace of an illegal immigrant from Nigeria, who went through the Sahara Desert and Libya, then with a small boat over the sea to Lampedusa and finally to Naples.

He is a typical economic refugee, who risked his own life by coming to Europe and sells now pot clothes or handbags for surviving there. Without language knowledge, without passport, without familiy support and without professional education his perspective is bad. But he is not complaining.

For selling Godwin has to appear in public. As an illegal he has to avoid the public. Nowhere in Europe he is welcome. He is not allowed to stay. He is not allowed to go further.

His trace is now extended virtually to countries and cities where Godwin never could come. His photo with the pot clothes appears in more and more cities in a site-specific way: with the background of just that wall where the poster is hanging.
A QR-code is included for listening the voice of Godwin. The audio loop is built out of an interview the artist made with Godwin in Naples. Telling his immigration story his words and sentences can be heard in a musical way, with variations and repetitions around a central sentence: 'I don't have to take care of me'.

In the exhibition a Godwin intallation with a poster and red background can be seen together with two original pot clothes of him and his voice can be heard by a red shining loudspeaker.

Godwin