Field Notes ... in situ

This blog is about field notes ‘in situ’.

In situ: in the natural or original position or place. In archaeology it refers to an artifact that has not been moved from its original place or disposition.

For a refugee, what can in situ mean? I was thinking about this when I bought a painting created by a refugee in Greece to support their livelihood. The painter is Sama. She crossed the sea from Turkey with her family.

The painting at first glance looks simple. But it isn’t simple. Look closer and the lines actually reach from one side of the sea to the other side and find each other in a new land. The view to Greece/EU from Turkey is just like this. Hoping for freedom…like migrating birds. But birds all over the world are free to migrate. Which is the more evolved species? How should we think about ‘freedom’? Why is something so simple so tragically complex?

And what can in situ for a refugee possibly mean?