Abstract
This paper, developed within the scope of a PhD in Fine Arts with a specialization in painting, investigates stateless identity, memory, and cultural re-signification as key themes in contemporary art. Painting is explored as a medium through which experiences of displacement, alienation, and identity fragmentation can be visually articulated and critically reinterpreted. Drawing from the concepts of superdiversity, translanguaging, and cultural hybridity, the research examines how art can foster a renewed sense of belonging in contexts marked by social and legal exclusion. The study is informed by a personal experience of statelessness and positions artistic practice as a form of visual inquiry into the complexities of identity in a globalized world. The works of Mona Hatoum, Adrian Paci, and Julie Mehretu—artists whose practices engage with transience, resilience, and cultural displacement—serve as key references in this investigation. This research argues that painting, as both a material and conceptual process, can function as a critical tool for re-signifying identity in response to contemporary conditions of migration, statelessness, and cultural negotiation. By situating the stateless condition beyond legal frameworks and into a broader cultural discourse, the work aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on the role of the image in society and its power to reflect and reshape lived experience.
Presenters
Vera FonsecaStudent, PhD, Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Investigação e de Estudos em Belas-Artes, Lisboa, Portugal
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Statelessness; Culture; Displacement; Identity; Memory; Re-signification
