Witness
“Witness” is a long-term collaborative project conceived by interdisciplinary artist Alexandru Salceanu. It engages refugee/immigrant communities to create process-oriented autobiographical video portraits. An intentional methodology was created through research and the input of professionals. Participants have the opportunity to tell their stories and are guided throughout the creative process so they may build, edit, and claim their narrative.
Individual contributors have the freedom to tell their own stories in the language of their choice and hear the healing power of their recorded testimonies.
The conceptual basis for “Witness” took form while listening to the memories of life “back home” and the experiences of the artist's aging Romanian mother and Filipina mother-in-law. After so many years, he remembers how healing it was for him and his mother to recollect their shared immigration experiences and viewpoints.
By collaboratively creating near static vertical video portraits, "Witness" pushes the boundaries of photography, documentary work, and social practice. It breaks down the inherent power dynamics of the camera and focuses instead on a shared approach in portraying human experience. This is achieved through the emphasis on collaboration throughout the creation of the audio narrative as well as the visual composition. During filming, participants listen to their stories surrounded by their community. This approach creates a therapeutic space that transforms the memory of traumatic events into an act of affirmation.
Another important aspect of Witness is democratizing artwork, which is achieved through the project’s distribution. The project will be made accessible to a local and global audience through its exhibition in free community-based venues, projection in public gathering centers, and website. A tutorial is being developed and will be available on this website so that others may submit their video portraits to the curated channel independently. In its virtual state, the project serves as a visual and oral history archive of the immigrant experience that is accessible to immigrant communities, researchers and the general public.
“Witness” investigates the quiet characteristics of resilience and dignity, power and joy present within pervasive cycles of struggle and the ways people overcome them. It complicates narratives by providing the human experience to otherwise abstract ideas and presents a visual platform for viewers to reflect on questions surrounding immigration.
This project affirms individual experiences, heals through the power of testimony, serves as a historical record, and sparks dialog in this uncertain time.