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https://doi.org/10.38003/ccsr.3.5-6.11
Des corps perdus aux corpsbateaux. L’Art et la manière : migrants, péris en mer et objets mémoriels
Corinne Fortier
Abstract
The sunken ship motif is frequently found in films and artistic installations on
migrants, as it symbolizes their perilous crossing. As Michel Foucault asserts, the ship
is the heterotopia par excellence, and the contemporary fate of migrant barges is quite
comparable to that of the ship of fools described by the philosopher in the classical
age. The ship is a heterotopic motif which acts as a physical substitute for the body of
the castaway, a substitute that makes sense in the maritime world, and that we find
in classical paintings, in popular religious art, or even in the ex-votos. The objects that
belonged to migrants perished at sea have a memorial character, allowing their history
and sometimes their identity somehow to be restored. Giving them back their name is
an essential issue so that they can be buried and not wander in a heterotopic space after
their death, a heterotopic wandering which also characterizes the experience of their
migratory journey.
Keywords
migrants, sea, death, boat, visual art
Hrčak ID:
328117
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2021.
Visits: 758 *