^{Jigsaw Pieces}

Norma Drimmer

April 25 to May 23, Mai 2013

We live in an age of voluntary and forced migration. This fact reflects socially in the mobility of the internet. In real time, the mobility based on political, professional and personal motives has concrete repercussions on the individual. But what is the impact of permanent change of city, country, education, religion and belonging on those who move around? And how do people react in the country of destination, if the new arrivals do not only hail from a different origin but also show a different skin color?

I know Ethiopian people in Germany and Israel. Some left Ethiopia voluntarily, others reacted to the circumstances of their living conditions. I am interested to find out how their self-image has been transformed by the new culture they settled into and whether this, in turn, affected the relation to their own culture; whether this – like in a circle movement - repositioned their perspective on the culture of the new country.

I wanted to know to what extent the actual stories of individuals of Ethiopian origin and their different conditions of integration in Germany and in Israel include a universal component. A component that reflects – beyond them – on our societies and the human condition in modern times. Because life in exile and the Diaspora leads to fragmentation and new configurations of self-perception.

This includes a description of the condition of modern human beings, whose lives are characterized by geographical changes, globalization, migration to urban centers and high mobility in the internet.

In my show I combine documentary fragments and interviews with people in Israel and Berlin with my artistic work on the situation of the people in today's world. I am concerned with the fact how all of us attempt to combine the fragments of our lives and identities into a meaningful whole.