About
The AspirE project, funded by the European Commission and comprising a consortium of 11 research centres and two NGOs from Europe and Asia, examined the decision-making of aspiring (re)migrants across these two continents over a period of three years
The CIES-Iscte team, coordinated by researcher Sofia Gaspar, led Work Package 4, which aimed to explore the temporality of decision-making through a participatory audio visual methodology.
In 2024, the consortium invited more than 60 people from 11 countries to share their emotions, reflections, hopes, and fears regarding their aspirations to (re)migrate. Each of them recorded a video diary every three months, choosing for each one āavatar,ā an object or landscape that reflected their emotional state.
Exhibition Team
AMAYA SUMPSI LANGREO
Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon.
Centre for Studies and Research in Sociology
OLGA COJOCARU
Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon.
Centre for Studies and Research in Sociology
SOFIA GASPAR
Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon.
Centre for Studies and Research in Sociology
the exhibition
The online exhibition includes three interconnected sections.
āAsian Lives in Portugalā presents five intimate life stories created through collaborative and participatory storytelling. Co-produced with the participants, each narrative unfolds through photographs, treasured objects, and personal memories. As a form of visual ethnography, it offers a close look into the everyday worlds of Asian residents in Portugal: Jayma from the Philippines, Kim from Vietnam, Kamal from Nepal, Sammi from China, and Reina, Tatsuo, and Io from Japan.
āA Catalogue of Avatarsā constitutes a visual inventory of themes and motifs of self-representation across the 284 video diaries. Whether poetic or ambiguous, we identified emerging patterns in the types of avatars selected by participants, revealing recurring themes and possible symbolic meanings.
āVideo Diariesā features selected videos recorded by participants from each country in the project. These self-filmed narratives reveal the textures of departure, settlement, aspiration, and doubt from the viewpoint of the participants themselves. Not least, the exhibition also includes the documentary Songs of Leaving, edited by Amaya Sumpsi, weaving fragments of video diaries into a poetic reflection on migration decision-making across four seasons. This documentary will ciruclate in film festivals and other academia and public events