Transnationalities: The Anthropology of Migration

27.04.2024 / 18:00 – 21:00
With Green Papaya

This first public program of Green Papaya in Berlin will discuss notions of transnationalism, what it means to migrants and second generation migrants. How does their understanding of being transnationals inform their notions of globalisation, nation-states and geopolitics?

Transnationality and the transculturality of household, kinship, marriage, family and friendship focuses on interpersonal relationships and interactions and are therefore deemed to be within the realm of cultural and social anthropology.

This discussion will focus on the newly emerging transnational cultural forms and expressions with Jasmin Werner, Silke Lapina and Lizza May David sharing their practices as artists living and working in between two cultures. Jasmin and Silke are German-Filipino nationals while Lizza May is a German national from both Filipino parents.

Giah De los Reyes and Norberto Roldan, current Green Papaya Visual Arts Fellows of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, will share their reactions to the presentations of the three “transnationals.” Patrick Flores, Filipino curator, art historian and currently deputy director of the National Gallery Singapore, will moderate.

Transnationalities: The Anthropology of Migration is part of the project Translokalität/Translocality, Green Papaya Art Projects’ main program as a Visual Arts Fellows of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program 2024.

Green Papaya is awarded a collective grant thanks to a cooperation with the Matschinksy-Denninghoff Foundation under the umbrella of Berlinische Galerie.

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Jasmin Werner is a German-Filipino artist based in Berlin. In her practice, she explores architectures of power and objects of status. Werner draws attention to transnational movements as she occupies spaces of production and consumption. In this way, Jasmin Werner explores historical analyses, ideologies and individual desire. Within these, she
creates her own systems by connecting different cultures and eras in a non-hierarchical way. Her sculptures scrutinise economic, social and intellectual structures that are geared towards constant growth.

Silke Lapina is a German-Filipino visual artist based in Berlin remixing pop culture and spirituality. She assisted several photographers and fine artists in the fields of street art and fashion around the globe, before receiving a B.A. in Culture- and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna and M.A. in Religion and Culture at the Humboldt University Berlin. Her artworks are deeply influenced by pop culture and spirituality. Executed in a wide range of media including photography, painting, installation and performance, Lapina’s work explores themes such as religion and transformation in contemporary society, meditation and interculturality.

Lizza May David is interested in gaps and silences in personal and collective archives and experiments with forms of activation or disturbance through abstract painting. She navigates through affects and moments that elude representability, leading to experimental approaches for the very same reason. She does not assume the existing binary simplifications of the world, but rather thinks relationally in crossroads, turning points, overlapping and branching out, finding further expression in collaborations, architectural interventions or installations. Lizza May lives and works in Berlin and studied at Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Nuremberg, the École nationale supérieure des Beaux Arts de Lyon (France) and at Berlin University of the Arts.

Images (from left to right): Jasmin Werner, “Schloss der Republik Burj Khalifa OFW I”, 2021; Lizza May David, “On Surface”, 2012: Silke Lapina, “Holy Hands” 2021