The Visionary
It was a beautiful day in spring. Three women were sitting underneath a tree, overlooking the city of Skopje in – then Yugoslavia, now North-Macedonia. It was one of those dull lingering moments, enjoying each others company whilst playing with the fresh grass, feeling the soft breeze, the sun touching their faces through the murmuring leaves high above their heads.
Then a man passed by. From afar he waved at them, then came closer and asked: “Would you like your futures to be told?” The three young girls sat startled in what seemed to be an innocent moment until his arrival, then bemused they asked him how he believed doing this trick? “Well”, he said, “I only need one hair, from each one of you, then I’ll tell you your futures.” If it were that simple, they thought, then it wouldn’t hurt that much, for only to pull one hair from their heads? And so they did. All three of them. The visionary’s words however, years later, became reality. When we met in Wilhelmshaven in 2012, Dafina still couldn’t grasp the prophecy of this man, and how on earth – with only a gaze at their hair, held their futures in the palm of his hands.
The poetic text based of 13 Women, December, is written upon the story of Dafina, my mother and the other women, co–workers at the time, and gives an account of their journey and personal experience of leaving their homeland, Macedonia, in order to work in German textile-factory BAWI, Wilhelmshaven. None, except one, would return to Macedonia and remain living in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, until present.
The photographs shown in the video belong to the women, of which some originate from the BAWI archives in Germany. Produced during the MFA HES-SO Contemporary Artistic Practices – WORK.MASTER program (2011-13) at HEAD-Geneva University of Arts and Design, Switzerland.
