Post-Violence City – Borders and Conflicts
Exhibition / Photo Essay by John Mounir Hanna
Borders, boundaries, barriers, frontiers. Physical, geographical, political, visual, social, mental. They are constructed in all shapes and forms. Borders mark, borders define, borders shape and borders cut. In all aspects of everyday life, borders play a fundamental role in defining our identities and spatial practices. Under conditions of urban conflicts, borders define the range of violence and the proximity to it. They also feed into imaginaries of the other: not only who, but where are they as opposed to where are we. Through a photography essay, this exhibition aims to explore the question of borders in post-attacks Paris through looking at the intersection of bordering practices with the practices of memory and commemoration, security, and everyday life.
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John Mounir Hanna graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Graz University of Technology in 2014. During his study years, he volunteered and worked with housing and shelter organizations in Zambia, Egypt and Brazil. In the past few years, he worked closely with contemporary art institutions in Graz and in Cairo. Hanna is a third year PhD candidate at the Chair History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology, and a member of Border Conditions and Territories research group. His research project addresses the spatiality of urban conflicts, laying a special focus on everyday practices under conditions of armed violence. John Mounir Hanna participated in 2017 in the summer school "History Takes Place" (dealing with urban studies) of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius. |
