Bitter Things is a research-based exhibition project by bi'bak that explores the impact of labor migration on motherhood and family from the perspective of migrant women workers and their children. Drawing on experiences of transnational families past and present, the installation brings together narratives with objects that play a central role in families.
Labor migration leads to new models of the transnational family worldwide, which tries to maintain its familial contact despite geographical separation. During the period of the recruitment agreements in the 1960s, many parents were forced to leave their children behind. The working hours were too restrictive to make childcare possible on the side. Today, it is mainly migrant workers from Eastern Europe who leave their families to earn a living in economically better-off countries. Even Turkey, once a country of emigration, has become a destination for numerous workers, especially in the field of care, from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
But how does the relationship between parents and children redefine itself when gifts and material support take the place of shared experience? When physical closeness has to take a back seat to communication programs like Skype and WhatsApp? How do the children and their parents fare? Bitter Things brings together positions on the topic from the 1960s to the present day.
The exhibition is accompanied by a book with scientific and literary contributions, interviews, songs and photos that shed light on the topic in an interdisciplinary way. After the exhibition was shown in Istanbul, Berlin and Cologne, kitev has now invited Bitter Things to Oberhausen.
Parallel to the exhibition, an accompanying program with film screenings and discussions will take place at the Oberhaus.
- Festival
The project was on view as part of the exhibition Ruhr Ding: Territorien from May 4—June 30, 2019 in Oberhausen.
