EXHIBITION
organized by the agency, VISIONCY
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Index
01 02 03 04
The Exhibition Project « Exodus - Déjà Vu » The Photographers Presentation
The Exhibition Program
Join Us
Appendix
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
01 THE EXHIBITION PROJECT: « Exodus - Déjà Vu »
After five years of war, we take stock of the sad situation in Syria. The facts are horrendous yet edifying: more than 260 000 civilians killed, 8 millions are displaced within the country, 4 millions of refugees scattered around the world. To make it short, one Syrian out of two has left its home. The tragedy now touching Syria is reminiscent of refugee crisis that have marked the past as it did in Cambodia in the 1970’s or more recently in Myanmar. This alarming observation makes us question the reasons that caused this outburst of violence and strikingly makes us realise how history tragically repeats itself. Do we have the right to ignore, even cause, civilian suffering for the sake of government interests and geopolitical strategies? For how long will we dissociate ourselves from this deepening humanitarian tragedy? With proven experience in art expertise and management Visioncy would like to introduce Exodus-Déjà Vu, a NON-PROFIT touring photography exhibition. Exodus-Déjà Vu will be the first of its kind articulated around three platforms :
an exhibition - a talk - a book We have the desire to create an interactive event by using powerful images as bear witnesses of the grim reality. With photography as a medium, the exhibition will document the war and the people fleeing, and build a consensus by interconnecting people speaking different languages, living different lives but sharing the same “human rights.” Visioncy will showcase six photojournalists and photographers who have closely followed and captured the perilous journey of refugees throughout time. Two generations of the same trade are united under the theme of refugees, each of them bringing their own masterpieces:
Coskun Aral(TUR), Issa Touma(SY), Roland Neveu(FR), Sergey Ponomarev(RU), Rahman Roslan(MY) and Nilüfer Demir(TUR). Exodus-Déjà Vu intends to create a better understanding of the refugees and displaced people, an undeniable fact especially after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, for all the world to see. Refugee crisis has now become a global issue. The despair and fear of death cause millions to flee for the sake of safety, facing catastrophic consequences. Together with our team of photographers , we will unveil and put forward the reality of millions of refugees by telling their poignant stories in Exodus - Déjà Vu.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Coşkun Aral embarked upon his career as a professional press photographer in 1974, working for the newspapers Günaydın and Gün in 1976. In the following years, he worked as the Turkish correspondent of SIPA Press in Paris and was several times featured in news magazines such as Time and Newsweek,
C o şk un
while also serving as a free-lance photographer for the
al r A
Turkish News Agency and the newspapers Milliyet and Hürriyet. His interview with the hijackers of an aircraft on October 14, 1980 created a stir in press circles and received awards in both Turkey and abroad. Since then, Coskun has been working extensively in war zones, covering nearly all the wars and conflicts of the world since 1980, witnessing refugee crisis many times before. Through his photos, Coşkun Aral tries to create an understanding for those in prosperity & peace and to let them gain the lacking empathy. Aral uses basic steps to maintain an objective and productive dialogue between the subjects and the viewers. Being an insider and as a photographer of experience, Coskun Aral will be collaborating with Visioncy in the organization of this international exhibition. His knowledge and experience of the past refugee crisis will echo the works of the new generation of photojournalists.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Coşkun Aral, Refugee in Iraq, 1990
Coşkun Aral, Iraqi Refugees, 1990
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
ISSA TOUMA, is a photography artist from Aleppo, Syria. Just a few months after the first outburst of the war in Syria,
Issa
TOu
most of the intellectuals decided to flee. But not Issa.
ma
He believes that if a country is deprived from culture and art the inevitable outcome will be death. So as a sign of peaceful resistance he decided to stay in Aleppo, his hometown and produce art. He is the founder and Director of « Le Pont Art Gallery » in Aleppo, and has since 2012, shot video and photos on what remains of his beloved Aleppo. His photos series on Sufis « The day of Al Ziyara » has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. More recently, his short film, made in the style of a video diary when the war started: « 9 days from my window » has steered a lot of attention in European Festivals.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Issa Touma, « Memories of a city we lost », Aleppo, Syria, 2013
Issa Touma, Aleppo, Syria, 2005
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Sergey Ponomarev is war photographer. Originally from
S e rg
ey
P
Russia, he grew up in Ireland.
on
ev r a om
He started his career in media in the early 1990’s in Moscow. At that time as he puts it: Freedom of speech and media freedom were not just words, they were real. He worked for several local Russian Papers before joining the agency Associated Press with whom he worked for 8 years. He is now a freelance photo journalist, who like many in his profession, travels in some of the most dangerous war zones. His work has regularly been featured in the New York Times with searing photos from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria. His work in the Gaza Zone has won him a world Press Photo Award. Most recently Pulitzer Prize 2016.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Sergey Ponomarev, Refugees walking past a church, Slovenia, 2015
Sergey Ponomarev, « Island of Lesbos », Greece, 2015
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Roland Neveu is a french photographer, he began his career in the early 1970’s after a stint at the university of Rennes, in Brittany. Quickly immersing himself in the “grand reportage” arena,
N
u e v e
witness the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. For almost two decades he travelled
Rola n
d
he became one of the new western photojournalists to
to hot spots around the world on assignment for leading international magazines like Time and Newsweek. Roland Neveu’s stories have ranged from documenting the first Soviet prisoners of war in Afghanistan’s mujahideen war, to Beirut’s siege in mid-1982. He also covered El Salvador’s bloody feud and the NPA guerilla struggle in the Philippines as well as producing the first images of AIDS in Uganda in 1986 His international reputation as a photojournalist helped launch a career in the film industry where he worked as stills photographer with top Hollywood directors including Oliver Stone, Brian de Palma and Ridley Scott.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Roland Neveu, Phnom Penh, January 1981
Roland Neveu, On the Thai Border, 1979
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Rahman Roslan is based in Kuala Lumpur and his major
R ah m an
interests are social and humanity photography. His work
an l s Ro
possesses sensitive and cognitive styles. He is one of a few young and emerging Asian photographers who has been chosen to attend the prestigious workshops at the Angkor Photography Festival. His work has been published extensively, including in Reuters, Agence France Press, European Pressphoto Agency, TIME magazine, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Ojodepez, The New Internationalist, Berita Harian Singapore and Strait Times Singapore. In his personal capacity , he is currently investigating the relationships between Islam and its impact on cultures around South East Asia.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Rahman Roslan, « Ijtima », 2009
Rahman Roslan, « Ijtima », 2009
NilÜ f
er
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
ir m de
Nilüfer Demir was born in Turkey. She was working as a photojournalist when in 2015 she began reporting about the European refugee crisis for the Turkish press agency Doğan Haber Ajansı. In September, one of her pictures won sad fame: Demir’s photography of three year old Aylan Kurdi, who died fleeing from Syria, went down in history as a symbolic image for the refugee crisis and unleashed a debate about morals within the media. Meanwhile, Demir’s photo became street art murals, whereas she continues covering the situation in her hometown Bodrum.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Nilüfer Demir, Aylan Kurdi, 2015
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
02 Exhibition Program «Exodus - Déjà Vu» will be travelling in 7 cities across the globe starting September 2016.
Dates Kuala Lumpur
1st October to 10th October
Munich
February 2017
Cologne
March 2017
Dresden April 2017
Istanbul May 2017
Paris
September 2017
Berlin
October 2017
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
OUR OBJECTIVES
The talk
The Book
A book will be published in honour of this exhibition, showing off the collected work on refugees by our 6 photographers with exclusive complementary writings. We are planning to have an intellectual and public figure from each of the countries to write in the book that will be edited for each country. For now, personalities such as Marina Mahathir, a malaysian leader of non governmental Organizations and socio-political writer, has confirmed her participation. Others who are yet to be confirmed have all backed the project with the assurance of their contributions in writing. In short we propose ONE book, more than EIGHTY photos by our photographers, writings by THREE writers.
A one day talk will be organised in each city during the opening day, in order to discuss issues and problematics related with the world refugee crisis through art. Artists, photo journalists, members of involved organisations, NGO’s, government and the civil community members will meet and take part in these one day conferences. In addition, we will work towards the realisation of workshops and speeches led by one of our photographers in selected universities of each city. The objective is to create the space for an open talk about the actual situation in the original countries, the countries of transit and the final destination from another perspective and using photography as a medium.
•
With the use of images, writings and talks, we aim to initiate positive actions to reach a better understanding of the current crisis.
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Open the dialogue space for sharing experiences, analysing situations through photography.
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Provide educational tools to enter the dialogue on the current refugee crisis from a sensorial way that differs from the media.
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Introduce the world to the challenges faced by photo journalists.
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Build bridges between the protagonists of the current crisis: The refugees and the countries welcoming them.
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The exposed photographic work will be the foundation to reach that aim, dealing via different approaches, angles, times and places with focus on one phenomenon, that so many try to understand.
•
Bring a different approach on the topic by working hand in hand on a solution.
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
03 join us
We are looking for sponsors and partners for this ambitious project, offering international visibility on each exhibition, talk and book launch. Trusting this project will have a positive impact on society, we wish to contribute raising awareness on the crisis currently affecting the whole world. This exhibition will be non-profit, and will serve an educational purpose. The publication of the book will deepen the exhibition experience by giving reflection tools to the public.
04 appendix
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
Patr ice
PATRICE VALLETTE was born in France but at home in the world, he
e t t e ll a V
is a visionary entrepreneur with love for new challenges and art. As an entrepreneur, Patrice has expanded global network businesses in France, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, India, South Africa and USA , opening his first business at the age of 23 years. For Patrice Vallette, Malaysia is the land of opportunity and the challenge of building the art market by supporting Artists and cultural events here was the deciding factor. Visioncy is an advisor to the global arts and culture network .As an agency, Visioncy integrates all aspects of arts, culture management and development. It serves different purposes with one aim, the development of cultural events in Malaysia. Offering a broad range of services in curating, crisis management, art consultancy, editing and publishing, Visioncy is a company dedicated to arts.
««Exodus Exodus--«Déjà Déjà Exodus Vu Vu»-»
The team
Director:
Patrice Vallette
Curator:
Müge Aral
Director’s Assistant: Designer: Coordinator(s):
Ingrid Hassan-Dibc Ana Oliveira Andrea Richter Lorena Aguilera - Haas Sarah Gineau Delyon
« Exodus - Déjà Vu »
our partners
Institut Terjemahan&Buku Malaysia, Malaysia IZTV, Turkey Haberci Productions, Turkey Deutsche Welle, Germany Vallette Gallery, Malaysia Think City, Malaysia French Embassy in Malaysia UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency, Malaysia
Thank you
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