A Travelogue from the Field

Abstract

Chapter 5 of the book "Photography and Invisible Borders: Spaces of Imagination between Switzerland and Italy" develops a mobile epistemology of the Swiss-Italian borderscape, moving on the ground along trajectories of cross-border work and migration. Combining methodologies from urban studies, art history, photography, and practice-based research, the chapter builds a travelogue in two sections. A photographic narrative and a textual narrative, at the same time autonomous and interrelated, complement each other. The photographic narrative is made of a series of photographs shot by the author and of other images from different sources, including archives. Writings from fieldwork and extracts of conversations come together into the textual narrative. The photo-textual travelogue examines the multifaceted aspects of the Swiss-Italian border. It looks into the daily life and spatial dynamics leading to the border, encompassing such spaces as a nursery for cross-border workers’ children, a bar, commuter parking lots, and residential areas. The narrative unfolds through walks across border woods, interweaving local legends and reaching industrial compounds. The morning rush at the border, voices of workers, and flows towards the “fashion valley” industrial area and Lugano are explored. The temporal dimension is considered at a migrant centre in Como. A transnational train journey reveals use of the train’s use by cross-border workers and the challenges faced by migrants attempting to cross. Spatial shifts into car parks, used for both worker commutes and migrant accommodation after the so-called migration crisis of 2016, are examined. The chapter also explores night walks, smuggling activities, and the gendered dimension of the borderscape, particularly the presence of brothels. The complex strategy of migrant transfers from the northern border to Taranto in Southern Italy, implemented in response to the migration crisis, serves as a concluding focal point, illustrating the extended territorial dimensions of the border’s reality.