Tommaso Sandri

Il “voyage” it's a meeting, more than ever for us who were lucky enough to meet and interact with around eighty Afghan and Pakistani refugees who arrived, in November 2014, in a cold Lignano Sabbiadoro, rainy and extremely suspicious of these guests.

We are three twenty-year-olds, Tommaso Sandri, Alessandro Sandri and Paolo Tavani, e dopo questa straordinaria esperienza umana cominciata con una partita di calcio sull’arenile deserto e proseguita con una serie di attività di volontariato “comunitario”, abbiamo deciso di intraprendere “on the contrary” il medesimo percorso di migrazione dei nostri “profugamici”. We will then leave from Friuli to reach the Turkish-Syrian border.

This trip, which we expect to last about three months, we would like it to represent a hug, a rapprochement towards that increasingly demonized part of the world.

We will then reach each border on foot, hitchhiking or, when it becomes necessary, by public transport and although each of us is perfectly aware that it will not be like the desperate adventure undertaken by our friends, However, we would like it to symbolize a path of equality.

E sarà attraverso il linguaggio universale dell’ ARTE che cercheremo di comunicare ad ogni confine, focusing more on the hottest spots where, from time to time, we hope to be able to create artistic interactions by placing a large roll of paper on the pavement on which anyone will be free to trace and express what they need to convey and what, at the end of the trip, it will represent a graphic path of all the encounters that occurred along the way. We would also like to leave a small mural drawing in each significant place along the route with the aim of metaphorically connecting each place, like Tom Thumb's crumbs.

We will also produce video material containing interviews, events and scenes of the artistic interactions that we will create as well as wanting to write an illustrated story that contains writings and drawings collected gradually, symbols of the concrete interaction between people and places.

In the end, to make all this happen, we also decided to rely on the Kickstarter fundraising platform to raise funds, therefore the invitation we address to each of you is: travel with us, following us on the Menti Libere Facebook page e, if you can, support us! In any case, Thank you.

The route will be more or less as follows : we will enter Slovenia from Gorizia, and then move on to Ljubljana and from there to Brezice, and then reach the border at Dobova. In Croatia we will go to Zagreb to go to Opatovac and Tovarnik and from here we will enter Serbia towards Sid. Once in Belgrade we will move on to Bosnia to visit places that are symbols of the meeting and clash between West and East : Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Visegrad before returning to Serbia and going to Nis for its pyramid of skulls. From here the route will take the direction of Macedonia, after the Presevo registration camp we will enter Macedonia at Tabanovtse. From here we will move to Skopje and then straight towards Gevgelija station, from where we will enter Gracia towards Idomeni. Dopo un periodo in Grecia entreremo in Turchia e a Istanbul dove ci soffermeremo per un progetto d’arte nel centro comunitario per profughi siriani gestiti dall’ ONG Support The Life che opera anche in molti centri sul confine con la Siria. From there we will go to Izmir from where we will embark for Lesvos. Returning to Türkiye we will continue towards Konya and then towards the southern coast, a Mersin. From here we will move to Kilis where a friend will guide us. From here we will understand whether it will be appropriate to enter Iraqi Kurdistan. At each stage we will come into contact with the associations that operate in the various refugee camps and we will use the very useful Refugee Help Map, a constantly updated picture of the situation at the various points of the Balkan Route.

Info are a movie: The director Renzo Carbonera from Lignano, immediately interested in our project, went out of his way to sign an agreement with the Paduan production company Officina Immagine which provided us with the equipment to collect audiovisual material along the route. The videos shot will be used for the creation of the docu-film which will then be edited by the aforementioned Renzo Carbonera.

BIOGRAPHY

Tommaso Sandri_

Born in Latisana (UD) In the 1992 and grew up in the peculiar locality of Lignano Sabbiadoro, from an early age he expressed a strong aptitude for travel, both physical and mental. As soon as he finished his studies at the Scientific High School he immediately left for Brazil, where for three months he lived as a volunteer in some social projects. Upon his return, with a small group of friends, the artistic collective MentiLibere is born, a group that through Art aims to bring together and raise awareness of issues such as interculturality and sustainability. From there he undertook travels to Peru, India and Southern Europe making painting his profession.

Paolo Tavani_

Born in Latisana in 1987 and grew up in the strange town of Lignano Sabbiadoro, from an early age he showed a propensity for movement and contact with nature. As soon as he finished his professional studies he started working as a gardener, work that brought him ever closer to the natural world. With every free moment he always chose the path of travel, from climbing to walking. Since its inception it has been part of the MentiLibere art collective.

Alessandro Lillo Sandri_

Born in Latisana in 1984 and growing up in Lignano Sabbiadoro he always had the gift of speaking even if not at school. After studying graphics he chose the path of a bartender, gaining some travel and work experiences in Spain and Mexico. He has always continued to cultivate a passion for art and communication. In the 2012 he was one of the founders and promoters of the art collective MentiLibere.

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