‘Tobias Zielony - The Citizen (2015)’

Tobias Zielony’s series of photographs The Citizen, shown in the Venice Art Biennale 2015, portrays African refugees not as helpless people, but as subjects. They organize, they struggle, they make themselves visible. The photographs are presented in large wall pieces like newspapers, with pictures but without text, which points towards the ruptures in biographies and the details left out of public debates. In return, Zielony has asked African authors and journalists to comment on his work. The newspaper coverage that came as a result is displayed, thus enabling the audience to overcome a limited European perspective.