Chapter 3 From Here, to There, and Back
in Photography and Invisible BordersSearch for other papers by Nicoletta Grillo in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):
Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):
Chapter 3 begins with an exploration of the Swiss-Italian border’s visible depiction in cartographies before examining its dynamic reality shaped by cross-border labour and migrations. Contrary to the notion of a “natural” border, the division between Lombardy and Canton Ticino separates regions sharing language, religion, topography, and partial land use. The first part of the chapter examines the border’s historical evolution in cartographic representations. Moving beyond the boundary line, the chapter observes the performative construction of the borderscape, where routine practices of cross-border workers and migrants both reproduce and contest the border. Cross-border working is a historical phenomenon that exists due to the economic differential between Switzerland and Italy. The first border factories were textile and tobacco industries associated with female labour. While cross-border work has been completely normalised, migrants have more recently joined in new dynamics of crossing. Cross-border work and migration, with their inherent contradictions and conflicts, are focal points in addressing the challenge of the border in/visibility. The chapter considers, as an example, artists Maria Iorio and Raphaël Cuomo’s video essay Appunti del passaggio (2014–2016), exploring the history of Italian labour emigration to Switzerland.