Origins
Through the lens of contemporary art and guided by scientific data, the exhibition Origins questions one of the most powerful and persistent factors of discrimination in our society. ‘Origin’—whether real or imagined—is a cause of daily exclusion and stigmatisation. It is a reality that often goes unacknowledged, even though it shapes both collective and individual life paths from the earliest childhood.
The exhibition
Legende
Photo : La boxe féminine, série, 2000. Collection du Centre national des arts plastiques.
Credit
© Jane Evelyn Atwood
Discrimination often stems from a simple glance. People of a foreign origin and/or those perceived as such bear the heavy burden of this discrimination. This ‘origin’ – whether real, presumed or imagined – is the source of persistent stereotypes, which often shape people’s life paths from childhood onwards.
Through the subversive gaze of contemporary artists – including the sœurs Chevalme, Patrick Zachmann, Euridice Zaituna Kala and Hamedine Kane – and previously unseen data, the exhibition Origins invites us to trace these mechanisms of stigmatisation and exclusion back to their source, by examining how perceptions are formed and perpetuated.
Drawing on recent research in the social sciences, and in particular on the European UNDETERRED* project – UNintentional Discrimination dETEcted and Racism REvealed and Deactivated – the exhibition highlights the structural, and sometimes unconscious, nature of discrimination. It also examines its tangible effects on everyday life, particularly among young people. Access to education, employment, housing or healthcare: these are among the areas where this cycle produces enduring inequalities.
Echoing the statistical data, works by contemporary artists bear witness to the emotional side of this discrimination: the exhaustion, the obstacles, but also the forms of resistance and solidarity that arise from them are all intimate, lasting and often invisible effects of such discrimination.
Origins is a way of inviting everyone to question their own perceptions and to consider a society free from these mechanisms of discrimination in their daily lives.
Legende
Photo : Yohanne Lamoulère, « Le mythe de Gyptis et Protis - Des histoires d’amour à Marseille », novembre 2016 - janvier 2017 FNAC 2017-0041 (6) Collection du Centre national des arts plastiques
Credit
© Yohanne Lamoulère / Cnap
* UNDETERRED - Unintentional Discrimination Detected and Racism Revealed and Deactivated - is a research-action programme funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe framework. The project investigates the mechanisms of unintentional discrimination experienced by young people aged 18 to 35 in four key fields: housing, health, employment and education. Its hypothesis: that some of the discrimination suffered by these populations stems from norms, rules and institutional practices that are never questioned — even when they are legal. The project is coordinated by Fabien Sabatier (Professor, University of Bordeaux), assisted by Hachem Benissa (postdoctoral researcher, University of Bordeaux). It brings together research teams from seven universities across six countries, alongside non-academic partners in Bordeaux.
Curatorial team
Exhibition Curators
- Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou, Exhibition Curator, Programme Organiser, Researcher
- Supported by par Olivier Bedoin, Exhibition Coordinator
Scientific Committee
- Patrick Simon, Demographer, Institut national d'études démographiques
- Jacques Toubon, former Minister for Culture and Justice, former Defender of Human Rights
The exhibition catalogue
The catalogue Origins, edited by Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou, follows the layout of the exhibition she curated, reproducing nearly 80 works, accompanied by descriptions or testimonies from individuals who have agreed to share their personal perspectives on some of them. It is further enriched by an essay by the exhibition’s curator, as well as by an interview with the researchers involved in the UNDETERRED project, whose analysis of the institutional mechanisms – sometimes invisible or unintentional – underlying inequalities in the fields of employment, health, education, and housing helps to bolster the fight against systemic discrimination in Europe.
Origins. Cross Perspectives on Racism and Discriminations, Palais de la Porte Dorée, 176 pages. 24 € (bilingual French/English version)
Program
- Tout public
- Chercheurs
Partners
With the support
Media partners
