Cut – 7 dividing lines
2007
The work is displayed as part of the permanent exhibition
Photography
Photographic installation
Installation
14 prints, texts, sound
Donated by the artist, 2008
Inv. No. 606/08
In CUT-7 dividing lines Danae Stratou examines “boundaries”, the impenetrable borders that violently and arbitrarily divide human lives. The artist travelled 60,000 km to visit seven spots around the planet with dividing lines as a result of socio-political, economic, nationalist, and religious tensions, unresolved conflicts, and territorial claims: the dividing wall between Mexico and the US in Tijuana; the Line of Control in Kashmir; the Western Bank in Palestine; the minefields outside Badme, a disputed region between Ethiopia and Eritrea; the “Peace Lines” in Belfast; Mitrovica in Kosovo; and the Green Line in Nicosia. The artist acquaints herself with the socio-political conditions of the inhabitants of those grey areas and photographs their lives and the “walls”, physical or artificial, that divide them. She selects seven pairs of photos that illustrate the two sides of each dividing line and sets them face-to-face. Viewers can see the pairs of photos, walking along the corridor between them, as if they were themselves in a borderline position so that they may see how, despite any “borders” and differences, the people and their lives look alike and the dominant element is the desire for “normality”.
Eleni Ganiti, ENTER EMST: Collection and history, A short guide, 2020