Imagine that the migrant was not a human being... (Towards an Encyclopedia of Metaphors for the Migrant Identity)

Provoked by the negative anti-immigrant discussions and the growing presence of nationalistic parties in the EU Parliament, I started to doubt my human qualities as a migrant - who are the “true” people?

I stood on busy streets in different cities wearing a board on which I wrote in the local language: “My name is Hristina. I am an artist and an immigrant myself. I am working on a project searching for the migrant's identity. Imagine that the migrant wasn’t a human; what else would it be? Can you draw this for me? Thank you very much!“

The drawings that people made (mostly anonymous), I have collected in an archive, titled “Towards an Encyclopedia of Metaphors for Migrant’s Identity” and divided into eight sections: 1-fauna, 2-flora, 3-landscapes, 4-human parts, 5-objects, 6-symbols, 7-abstractions, 8-others.