Tamar Maare

Migration Memes

The word “meme” was first coined by Richard Dawkins as an “idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”. The internet meme has become a new, humorous medium used to communicate ideas and commentaries on everything ranging from the most trivial every-day experiences of teenagers to the criticism of regimes and politicians. This screening consists of a collection of memes discussing issues referring to experiences of migration and “otherness” in Europe as a response to the pre-existing anti-migration memes found online. Working both specifically with stock-photos and with diverse images from the media, I am interested in exploring the medium of memes as a strictly ironic/humorous form in all its diversity and randomness, distinctness and ambiguity. A meme’s success is defined by its popularity in the virtual sphere. While some memes are popular because they refer to a widely identifiable experience in a new, original manner, other memes are celebrated for a witty combination of an image with a text. However, this collection of memes offers to not look at memes and their different forms merely individually, but to rather consider them as parts of a whole which can be used to study social trends and give voice to marginalized voices in a popular platform.

Memes, 2017