Memory of the eyes

‘Memory of the eyes’ is an ongoing visual diary focused on the theme of home and belonging, the concept of migration in relation to identity and therefore of space, time and memory. This project aims to represent the existential condition of the individual that migrates to a new territory, questioning where and who he belongs to. It draws inspiration from my personal experience of migrating from Sicily to United Kingdom about ten years ago. Magali Duzant brilliantly described the series as follows: “In her surreal black and white photographs, Sara Cucè explores the in-between spaces of migration in search of a visual form that describes what it feels like to be neither here nor there. Cucè deftly uses double exposures to convey the ways in which migration can be a minefield, balancing the pull of nostalgia against the promise of the new. An Italian photographer based in London, Cucè has written about this battle of dualities, stating, “I wonder if they can live under the same roof, inside the same body, together. In flux.” Formatted as a visual diary, the work is an evocative look at the poetics of belonging and the challenges of building a new identity on top of the foundation of the old. Each scene feels stitched together of both past and present, via light, shadow, footprints, and reflections. In layering, shifting, and enlarging parts of the image she manages to marry technique to concept. The photographs, rich with metaphor and curiosity, play with the construction of space as much as time […] it is almost as if our vision is confronting our memory, asking us to question what it means not only to see a space but to exist within it.”