The term "Displacement" comprises different forms of forced migration. Regardless of place and time, deportation, flight, expulsion and resettlement leave deep cuts in the lives of everyone who has to experience them. The Audio Walk "I would always dream of my house – stories of displacement" broaches the issue of the loss and leaving of a home and the consequences that these events have for the individual, as well as for future generations.
Long before Shahana Rajani and Sonya Schönberger met in Karachi in 2015, both artists focused in their artistic work on the historical events of the time when their grandparents were young. Under the impression that what happened then continues to have an effect today and still determines the personal and collective imaginary, they looked intensively into the escape and expulsion stories of their grandparent’s generation. While Schönberger interviewed people in Germany, who lived through World War II and its aftermath, Rajani collected stories of Muslim refugees who fled to Pakistan during Partition from India.
In the Audio Walk the Pakistani and German "displacement" stories are now juxtaposed and become audible. Despite the historical and regional differences "I would always dream of my house – stories of displacement" stresses the exchanging and sharing of experiences and memories. The Audio Walk is an attempt to speak about the similarities we find in humankind.
The Audio Walk will take place simultaneously in Berlin and Karachi. It is available in English, German and Urdu.
Download the booklet
Commissioned by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Production: Sonya Schönberger & Shahana Rajani. In collaboration with Goethe-Institute Pakistan.