On my journey to Brest I catch the bus from Copenhagen to Paris. The bus is in bad condition and the anticipation of the long ride open up the passengers to chat with each other. Where are you going? Where are you from? How is it there? Paul and Paul are two guys from Nigeria. They have papers in Italy but found themselves traveling around Europe looking for work. In Copenhagen they make everyone nervous by bribing the driver to help them avoid passport controls along the way. We start talking on the boat from Denmark to Germany, meeting in the dismay that the price for a cup of coffee is 5 euros. They say they have no money, and while I don’t want to kill the good vibe between us, I hear myself offering to buy a bottle of water for them. They accept and we walk together to the duty free shop. Passing the fridge with water, they approach the vials carrying alcohol. Paul holds up a small bottle of rum: One of these? Whatever, who am I to decide, after all rum is cheaper than water. I buy the rum and they pass the bottle back and forth to each other. We go out on the deck and I bum a cigarette from them and we continue to chat. I take the courage and ask for a photo, As a memory, I say. Memory. Is that what I want from them? How representative is this situation for any of us; standing in darkness on a wet metal floor, drowned in wind and what i presume is the sounds of engines. I take the photograph. A closed door, a hope for perpetuation but it is really as much a loss; A flashlight shaking in the woods, a dog barking in a darkened house.

15ème Festival Intergalactique de l’Image Alternative, Brest, Frankrike, October 2016. Inkjet on sandpapers, inkjet on C-41 papers, inkjet & laser on paper.