Growing Old in Switzerland as a Foreigner: The Portrait Exhibition in Plainpalais

By Motahareh Mohebi, News Editor of The Graduate Press

It was a sunny-windy afternoon when I decided to go to Plainpalais to see the portrait exhibition that Professor Françoise Grange Omokaro had told us about. It was in the red-sand area of Plainpalais. There were still some trucks and sellers from the Sunday flea market, and children were playing with their parents. Several tall stands of images with stories stood out. The theme of the exhibit is about growing old as an immigrant in Switzerland, “Vieillir en Suisse en tant qu’étranger.ère”. The pictures were captivating; some were close-ups of the weathered faces of migrants who likely worked in Switzerland since they were young, now bearing the marks of age on their faces and bodies. Each person had a story to tell.

One important thing for me to figure out was how many people really paid attention and spent some time watching the images and reading their stories. Therefore, as an anthropology student, I decided to observe for some time. I noticed four people who stopped by the exhibition to watch the images and read the stories. Not surprisingly, all four were in their late 60s, three of them men and one a woman. Among them, one man spent about 15 minutes there, carefully reading everything and studying the images. I gathered my courage to approach him and ask if he spoke English. Fortunately, he did. I introduced myself and told him I wanted to write about the exhibit, expressing my interest in his thorough attention to everything in it. His name was Louis, and the following part is written with his consent and permission.

He told me that although he was born and raised in Geneva himself, his family were immigrants from Spain. So, at first, he was attracted to the exhibition because he felt some connections. He continued by expressing sadness that many people, even after years of living in Switzerland, cannot obtain their official documents. He mentioned that since the city is so expensive, he is upset that these people are not able to work without permission. He added that Geneva is an international city, and it’s always good to know other people’s stories, especially as part of their income and taxes go to support them. Personally, he wants to know these people more. He also mentioned a really astounding point: most of these immigrants are really good and nice, but there are many refugees among them who just want to benefit from the system and take advantage of it.

It reminded me of an interesting report that discusses the binary views people have towards refugees, some seeing them as deserving and others as exploiters of the system. You can read more about it here if you’re interested. Shortly after our interesting talk, rain started to fall, signaling it was time to go. You can gain more information about the exhibition through this link.

Photo credits: Motahareh Mohebi