EUROM collaborated on Flucht (2023), a photographic project by Espe Pons that reflects on exile, escape, and forced displacement in twentieth-century Europe. The title—Flucht, the German word for “flight” or “escape”—evokes the experience of those who were compelled to flee persecution, crossing borders and landscapes in search of survival.
The project draws inspiration from the figure of Walter Benjamin and other European intellectuals forced into exile during the rise of Nazism. As recalled by Lisa Fittko, who helped guide fugitives across the mountains, Benjamin believed that “in Europe there were still positions to be defended.” He delayed his escape until the last possible moment, fleeing Paris as Nazi forces approached—an irreversible departure that would mark the tragic end of his journey.
Through a series of 30 images, Flucht engages with landscapes as silent witnesses to these histories of escape and loss. The photographs invite reflection on the fragility of democratic values and on the enduring relevance of exile as a European experience, past and present.
Flucht is published as a limited-edition artist’s book of 100 numbered and signed copies, including an original photograph printed by PHOTOVISION on Fine Art Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper. The publication brings together texts by writer and essayist Vicenç Altaió and art critic Pilar Parcerisas, and is presented in five languages.
The project was self-published with the support of several cultural institutions, including the collaboration of the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM) of the Fundació Solidaritat at the University of Barcelona.