40. DAWIT L. PETROS - A SPACE BETWEEN REFLECTIONS AND STRANGERS.

A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography, Tate Modern - LONDON.

Dawit L. Petros, Untitled (Prologue III), Nouakchott, Mauritania 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary.

The Stranger's Notebook explores geographical, historical, and cultural boundaries. In this series, Dawit L. Petros documents his travels from Africa to Western Europe, reflecting on a long history of migration. Passing through cities including Nouakchott in Mauritania and Catania in Sicily, Italy, the artist considers the migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who make treacherous journeys between the two continents. 

Petros photographs his companions and local people holding mirrors to the landscape, revealing reflections of coastlines, train tracks, and power lines. Conscious of his own position as an outsider in these spaces, the artist positions himself as a 'stranger', photographing his staged compositions from a distance. 

Petros comments, 'For me, each of these journeys complicates Europe's status as an immutable historically and politically bounded space. I negotiated these journeys conscious that I came from elsewhere.'

Text extracted from wall didactics - 'A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography' Tate Modern 2023.

A series of works by Dawit L. Petros are presented as part of:

A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography Tate Modern, until 14 January 2024.

Special thanks to Anna Ovenden at Tate Modern.