2011 Art & Dis(place)ment

Curator Essay

Place & Displacement

The Sociology of Place usually refers to social interaction at the micro-level. However, it also refers to the social setting in general. Ethnographers base all of their studies on people (actors) being in a place (setting) doing things (activities). It is this latter definition that we will address here.

Nation states are made up of families living in places. This involves “land” where the people are located. It is here that people live out their lives, sometimes for generations, among people like themselves who share the same values and belief systems.

According to Goffman (Stigma, 1963), identity is comprised of three components:

• personal identity — how we see ourselves;
• social identity — how others perceive us;
• ego identity — how we feel about who we are.

When individuals (or whole communities, neighborhoods, or even whole countries) are “displaced,” all of the parts of identity are affected. Personal identity becomes seeing oneself as someone who experiences loss. Social identity is changed into a category called “refugees.” In turn, ego identity turns into anger and hostility against those who perpetuated this condition.

Identity is tied to place. Place has history and culture embedded in it. We are the place. We are the land. To rupture this bond is an act of inhumanity. To be forcefully moved from the land where one lives violates the human right to “place.”

We, as artists from the Americas, wanted to share artwork of our perception of place and displacement in hopes of creating an empathetic chain with all others throughout the world who value place and who are displaced by any social force, including economics, famine, or war.