Art on the Borders

This was going to be a Friday Fun post, but with time running out and still so many gorgeous pictures to share with you, I will keep my words shorter and my images brighter. To hide the tears in my eyes.

Every few years there is a great initiative of ‘art en campagne’ (art in the countryside) on the Franco-Swiss border. You can take in the artworks during the summer months, while you take a walk through the orchards and forests of Collex-Bossy and Ornex.

This felt like being transported into the rainforest…

Using nature to make art…

A butterfly or a ghost?

Fish heads or mushrooms?

This year’s theme was ‘Les passerelles de l’espoir’ – Bridges of Hope – and of course many artists interpreted that as something to do with borders and welcoming people (or not). Even more eloquent when these artworks are constructed on borders which were once upon a time terribly fought over…

‘What Bridges?’ says the notice on this metal gate erected at the precise border in the woods, a commentary on ‘Fortress Europe’ according to the artist.

Can we see the humans behind the barbed wire?

What do refugee families look like?

Old border signs riddled with bullets are a chilling reminder…

Can we build bridges?

This isn’t art: it’s the old borderstone, overgrown by weeds. Long may it lie forgotten!