Developed in Verona with a group of women from different countries, this workshop centred on language and the non-explicit violence of negation that often forms part of the contemporary migratory experience. Together, we explored terms such as migration and integration, investigating their etymologies and elaborating new words using the negative–privative–oppositive prefixes of the Italian language. Thus the title of the workshop: a-ab-ana-anti-anto-bis-contra-contro-de-di-dis–il-in-ir-ob-opo-sotto-sub.

Driven by the desires and experiences – often ignored and made invisible – of people from whom “integration” is requested, terminologies were challenged and expanded upon to build new words and meanings and contribute to an imaginative collective work.

A video will be coming out shortly to be included in the DIMMI project of the Archivio della Memoria Migrante.

Thanks to Bridget Richard, Dalma Nèspolo, Fatima El Kotabi, Inga Lomsargaite, Sokaina El Fadil, Valeria Zanferrari and Veronica Bellei, with the support of URBS PICTA, Interzona, Le Fate and Filema, Verona.