Where is My Land / 2024
The installation consists of the phrases “NOWHERE IS MY LAND” and “ANYWHERE IS MY LAND,” written in LED lights on a freestanding structure. The sentences alternate from day to night, reflecting shifting notions of belonging, displacement, and the instability of identity.
The work was installed at Gustav Adolfs Torg, chosen for its proximity to Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence—two institutions that articulate different dimensions of the nation-state and its borders.
The point of departure for the text is a sentence used by the Brazilian artist Antonio Dias (1944–2018) in one of his black paintings made during his exile in Italy. Against a black surface speckled with white dots resembling a night sky, the phrase Anywhere is My Land can be read as a declaration of freedom and resistance against the oppressive regime that forced him to leave Brazil. It suggests that belonging need not be tied to a single nation or territory.
By adding its opposite Nowhere is My Land the installation juxtaposes the experience of dislocation and exile with the potential right to belong anywhere, beyond the limits of nationalism and geographic boundaries. Nowhere is My Land reflects the realities of individuals who feel displaced, stateless, or without a homeland. It conveys loss, alienation, and the feeling of not belonging anywhere, while also functioning as a critique of nationalism and the rigid borders that shape contemporary political discourse, particularly within Europe.
Through this duality, the work moves between the sorrow of dislocation and the empowerment of inclusivity, encouraging viewers to reflect critically on the conditions that define where—and how—people are allowed to belong.