Wanderlust
Dépaysement, a French word whose literal meaning is “to be
without a country”, describes the sense of disorientation in unfamiliar places. For
adventure travelers it describes that combination of nervousness and
exhilaration of being in countries whose customs and language are strange and
new. Artists are familiar with the feeling, as each artwork is a step into the
unknown. The Surrealists and later Conceptual artists, deliberately created dépaysement or disorientation, to present
familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts.
Since nomadic humans established agricultural
societies and city life, a world of predictability and sameness emerged. While
comforting for most, there have always been those who are restless, crave
challenges and a life of adventure. Some, like travellers Marco Polo and Ibn-e-Batutta, and the many
explorers of history, thirsted for knowledge of distant lands. Others, such as the
illegal migrants making hazardous
journeys, and the many young people who run away to the city, wish to escape
unbearable existences.
The British Somali writer, Warsan Shire, believes "No
one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark" while J.R Tolkein
writes “Not all those who wander are lost.” The Silk Route and Colonialism were
established for trade and acquisition of wealth, but were equally an
opportunity for wanderlust.
In 17-19 C England, the Grand Tour of Europe was
an essential experience for gentlemen, and some women, to complete their
education and develop their aesthetics. A more connected world has encouraged permanent
migrations.
The term, migration, emerged in the 1700s,
however, people have been migrating since the establishment of human
society. Large scale migrations were undertaken to escape the ice ages, wars,
or religious and political persecution. Emigrants are those who leave a
country, immigrants those who wish to enter a country, settlers occupy a
country, establishing their own rules, and nomads have no fixed abode.
Today the West is alarmed with migration, yet, since
1500, the largest mass migrations have been by Europeans who populated the
Americas, Canada, Australia and New Zealand reducing local populations to less
than 3 percent. In much of Africa, and colonized nations, they dominated not by
numbers, but by wresting power, so one can understand their concern.
A
consequence of migration has been the evolution of culture, knowledge, skill
and economic development. The best example would be the Greeks who migrated to
Southern Europe between 8-5 BC, evolving and spreading Greek culture, not just
in Europe, but further afield in the wake of Alexander’s conquests. The
transnational Muslim Empires of 8-11 AD,
the Age of Discovery, Colonial empires of 15 – 19 AD created opportunities for
exchange of cultures and transmission of knowledge. Tragic events such as the
displacement of people during the French Revolution, Nazi Rule, occupation of
Palestine, the Partition of India and the many world conflicts equally played a
part in dissemination of cultures. Religious mystics, such as Sufis, travelled
to all corners of the world settling in lands far from their countries of
birth.
Voluntary migration is not random. Migrants seek the culture
they feel closer to than their home culture they may feel disconnected with. Many
of the Romantic poets, Bryon, Shelley and Keats migrated to Italy, for its
history and aesthetics and more liberal society. Some artists, such as Paul
Gauguin, who migrated to Tahiti, were searching for inspiration. Others such as
Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, René Magritte or Modigliani gravitated towards
the major art centres of Paris and New York.
For most ordinary people, migration grows out of a state of
mind, described by the much travelled poet Robert Service,
“There's a race
of men that don't fit in
A race that can't sit still
So they break the hearts of kith
and kin
And they roam the world at
will.”
Durriya Kazi
February 17, 2020
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