30/125 — Anna Studer
hin und her Searching for Life Commuters
Idea — My diploma project is about creating portraits of people coming from cultural backgrounds other than my own. In this context, I am particularly interested in the link between people and places. Therefore, my aim is to become immersed in other people’s environments and approach them by means of interviews and methods of design. In particular, the project focuses on research about women living in Poland and Switzerland. Context — My work is a contribution to answering the question of identity in an intercultural context. The topics I intend to explore on the basis of individual biographies are globalization, transit, and migration. Moreover, I tackle the question of how these topics can be presented by using design means of expression. Content — Against this background, I looked for a suitable topic and came across female Polish commuting migrants. These women travel to and from Switzerland, where they work and live for a certain period of time with families who have members in need of care, and Poland, where they stay with their own families. Often they are life commuters, who live in different social contexts and travel to and fro between two different everyday lives. My aim is to try to find out what the above-described situation means for the Polish women. In order to do so, I set off on a search for these women in Switzerland and Poland. The search itself, too, is part of my project
as well as my own ideas about the women, whom I try to understand by creating a fictitious portrait. Another central point is the bus trip between Switzerland and Poland, a symbol for these commuters’ lives. While searching for life commuters, a question accompanying me is how strong the influence of my own perspective and ideas of ‘the other’ is on my perception of these people.
Coaches Internal: Anka Semmig External: Linda Cassens Stoian Team & Credits Diana Pfammatter – photography Donat Kaufmann – text Stefanie Daumüller – photography Thomas Koch – concept Yuyu Chen – design
Product — The result of my work will be a publication combined with an object for the exhibition.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to my coaches and my team; to the women who allowed me to portray them; to Sarah Schilliger and
Upstream — I deal with both an environment alien to me as well as a special form of traveling. At the same time I reflect on my own view of ‘the other’ and travel like a tourist in the life commuters’ everyday lives.
Izabella Paluch; to all the others who were involved and supported me with small and big favors; to my student-mates and teachers; and to my family and friends.
Contact anna.studer@hyperwerk.ch hin-und-her.tumblr.com