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A desert landscape. We are moving forward, pacing our steps evenly, straight ahead, always in the same direction. Tracks on the ground lead nowhere, there is no end in sight, no borders, no fences. No lines that can be crossed. The border becomes the plain we are moving in - trapped.
Three simultaneously recorded video images of a desert landscape form a panorama. A point-of-view distorted by gaps and overlaps.
Over the sounds of the desert we hear five individual voices: migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, talking about their perilous journey. These five tell us their stories. And every desert image tells the stories of thousands.
The stories told in "Triptych" were recorded in Morocco in May 2009. All of the protagonists have stranded there on their way to Europe. While having official refugee status, they are still subjected to random arrests and deportations to the Algerian border. As refugees, they are not allowed to work in Morocco.
Chantal, Camará, Fiston, Bak, and Johnson tell their stories – the recordings are not based on an interview, where the questions posed might already determine the answers. Instead, they were asked: Tell me how you got here and what happened on the way.
Chantal and the others tell their own stories: through their voices they are here with us now. There is no literal translation of the stories – instead, over five sets of headphones in the room, the stories are recounted in English. This account is of a spontaneous, improvised character, thereby continuing the oral tradition of the original stories and pointing to its own subjectivity. Just as in the original stories, there is no guarantee for accuracy or completeness.
