Citizen

Santiago Mostyn, Citizen, 2015-2017, 4 hr 12 min. Courtesy of Filmform.

Mostyn’s work Citizen is a four hour long documentation of an action in which the artist rowed a small boat across the Aegean Sea, from Dilek Peninsula in Turkey to Samos in Greece. The work follows the journey in real time. One part documents the artist departing Turkey and rowing away in the direction of Greece, and the other shows Mostyn approaching and arriving on the Greek coastline.

"Most of what we see is the serenity of the artist in his boat surrounded by the sea, in a vast space of openness and surrender. It is also significant that the artist undertook this action without the necessary permissions, aware that Europe has a policy to protect its borders against mass migration. In undertaking this journey, mirroring that taken by asylum seekers in recent years, Mostyn acknowledges that the history of the Mediterranean has been significant in understanding both the origins and development of modern societies, and the European self-image.”  – Nav Haq

Santiago Mostyn was born in 1981 in San Francisco and grew up in multiple places, including Zimbabwe and Trinidad & Tobago, developing strong ties to both. He earned a BA from Yale University and later moved to Sweden, where he completed an MA at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. He has been based in Stockholm for many years and maintains an international artistic practice.

Santiago Mostyn’s films, installations, texts, and performances often explore the dissonance of lives lived between different political spheres. His work simultaneously employs footage of historical events, political and cultural figures, and racial injustice to speak to his own personal histories. His research-like process examines questions of identity and memory, both personal and collective, and the intersections of history with current events.