"The Lines We Draw"
Existing on the margins of the global political scene are countries whose independence has not been recognized by the international community.
Whether the have a national anthem, an official language, a currency or their own government, each of those countries has elements characteristic of a nation state. And yet, institutionally speaking, they are not able to exist as one.
What is it that makes a country and its people exist or not?
While the UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation), based in Brussels, represents almost forty unrecognized nations, we have endeavored in ‘The Lines We Draw’ to explore five of these countries dispersed in various parts of the world : The Moldavian Republic of Pridnestrovie (PMR, mostly known in the West as Transnistria), The Republic of Catalonia, The Republic of Artsakh, The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
This project centers its research around the physical, historical, cultural and political realities through which these countries and their inhabitants compose their personal and national identities. On the one hand, it investigates the instances that contribute to the formation of personal identity: the place and the way in which we come into the world, the way we are preserved after death, the first and last names that accompany us throughout our life, our family, the celebration of rites of passage. On the other hand, it explores all the elements at the foundation of these countries’ national identities: the local territory, the fauna and flora, the countries’ historical, administrative and cultural sites, and eminent personalities.
In the book, designed by Ania Nalecka-Milach (https://nalecka.com/), the different geographical contexts and their acts of identity-making are not kept separate but put in dialogue with each other in an attempt to tell a story that goes beyond the individual experience of the different territories. The Lines We Draw breaks the lines imposed by authorities (both official and unofficial) to propose others and discuss the ephemeral role of established codes and the identities that resist beyond them.
This project is conceived and realised together with Lavinia Parlamenti.
REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH, REGION OF MARTUNI
View from the foot of the Tnjri, oldest tree in Artsakh (approx. 2040 years old), situated near the village of Skhtorashen.
PRIDNESTROVIE MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC, TIRASPOL
Cyril and Daniel are newborn twins from PMR. Derived from the Latin natio (from nasci = to be born), the term Nation retains today the original archaic meaning of ‘birth’, ‘lineage’; thus, it designates a group united by ties of kinship. From this, by extension, derives the modern meaning of nation which designates a human group to which common origins are attributed.
WESTERN SAHARA, MARKET OF SMARA
.An everyday purchase at the market of Smara using moroccandinars. Despite not having a currency of their own, Saharawipeople have invented a local exchange rate in order to price theirgoods locally.
REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH, VANK, MARTAKERT REGION.
Thanks to the patronage of Leon Hayrapetian, philanthropist and timber magnatefrom Vank, this peculiar little town differs from any other village in the world thanksto its very special and surreal appearance. The redevelopment plan he supportedhas seen many eccentric buildings spring up in Vank, including a zoo and twoluxury hotels, one of which is in the shape of the Titanic. Here a copy of the David
The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was signed by nineteen countries of the American continent in 1933, with the aim of regulating the imperialist tendencies.
However, Article 3 states that “the condition of the State is independent of the recognition of other countries”.
WESTERN SAHARA, TIFARITI
The village of Tifariti is part of what Polisario Front (Saharawi rebel national liberation movement) call the Liberated Territories, and Morocco call the Buffer Zone. It has been the de facto temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic since the government moved there in 2008 from Bir Lehlou.
REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH, VANK, MARTAKERT REGION
Thanks to the patronage of Leon Hayrapetian, philanthropist and timber magnate from Vank, this peculiar little town differs from any other village in the world thanks to its very special and surreal appearance. The redevelopment plan he supported
has seen many eccentric buildings spring up in Vank, including a zoo and two luxury hotels, one of which is in the shape of the Titanic.
TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS, RIZOKARPAZO PENINSULA
Peter and Sarah are two young volounters from the UK. They decided to spend 6 months working for “Spot”, an association who takes care of the preservation of Caretta Caretta’s, the sea turtle species originary from North Cyprus. Here they are seen on the beach in the night right after releasing the newborn babies in the water. We only were allowed to use a red light, as baby turtles can be killed from any bright source of light.
SAHRAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, RABUNI
At the entrance to the Saharawi Parliament in the town of Rabuni. The SNC is a unicameral body, with 53 seats, elected every two years in General People’s Congresses by delegates from the Saharawi refugee camps. The 35% of the parliamentarians were women.
REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH, STEPANAKERT NATIONAL AIRPORT
Stepanakert airport has been operating since 2011. Several employees work here, but no aircraft have yet landed on these runways. Tensions with neighbouring Azerbaijan have prevented the arrival of aircraft and the conveyor belts are running in vain...
PRIDNESTROVIE MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC, TIRASPOL STATE UNIVERSITY-
Pankrushev Vasily Afanasievich is one of the oldest professors of the Linguistic faculty of the State University of Pridnestrovie. The State University is dedicated to Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet, writer, artist and political figure. His literary heritage is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language. In PMR the students can choose if attend the University in Romanian or Russian language.