What interests us, both now and in the first edition, is the point of observation, the perspective from which the world is observed.
We asked ourselves: what is the point of view that is missing in the usual narrative of migration?
The stories of those who immigrate, or emigrate – it's enough to change a term to overturn the perspective – are habitually told by others, who do not live the experience of migration, or at least this form of migration.
For this “Human Factor” is born. A laboratory of auto-narration in which young people coming from extra-european countries are the protagonists, put in the condition of telling themselves, with their eyes and thoughts, from this point of view too often overlooked that can help everyone to look differently.
These voices represent a perspective which Europe and the Western world need in order to better understand and accept other worlds, to share, to welcome and to relate as equals.
Overall, we love the idea of a world without borders and distance between countries, people, continents.
In the first edition of HF1, being that participants quite young, we figured that a social media profile could be the right tool for their narration, so we created profiles on Instagram for each of the participants. To be successful on Instagram, there must be a constant presence, and possibly a good use of images and videos. This was a quite burdensome commitment for them who still have to find their place in the real world.
Thus, convinced of the idea of the project, which represented a rich path both humanly and professionally, we transformed it, looking for a means that could be more manageable, "livable", in which the participants could feel more at ease.
So, from HF1 comes HF2, the same logic but with a different method and communication channel, and involving more authors in order to provide more substance, depth and variety of perspective for this collective story.
Some of the participants from the first edition continued in this adventure, while others decided to follow a different path, as it should be.
HF2 will take the form of a blog.
It will not be focussed on migration (though participants may choose this as their focus): the focus will be on the transmission of ideas and perspectives of the protagonists, from which emerges the identities usually hidden behind the label of “migrant”.
In order to publish content which is suitable for a blog, we are carrying out an online training workshop for self-narration. This is not exactly easy to manage, as the participants are of different origins and therefore of different languages. Further, some are already in Italy, while others are still in their country of origin (with connection problems). Then some others are in the process of arriving, so struggling with additional bureaucratic problems.
For now, the countries represented are: Eritrea, Tunisia, Angola, Yemen, Congo Brazzaville, Mali, Mozambique and Syria.
It's an extraordinary mix of languages and cultures at which we aim a lot, and it is starting to bear fruit.
The HF2 Blog will soon be online.
