Tudor Bratu addresses the topic of “otherness” from the perspective of his family history. In this work, he analyses patterns and models of urbanisation, and the role they play in framing and perceiving the “other”. In urbanised environments, not only is one able to observe the passing of time, but moreover construction of buildings and urban planning reveal changing attitudes, thoughts, and expressions of ideologies and beliefs.
Bratu’s personal story is one of migration. In 1945 his grandmother became a displaced person after the Soviets invaded parts of Romania, as a political dissident his father fled the dictatorial regime of former president Nicolae Ceaușescu, and in 1987, as a migrant boy himself, he left the country in search of a better future in the Netherlands. The narrative based on family memories and archives is intertwined with a contemplation on urban architecture and individual testimonials of encounters Bratu had while travelling throughout Central Europe at the height of the refugee crisis in the summer of 2015.
In The Brutality of Fact, Bratu chooses to work with slide film, a presentation format positioned in between movement and stillness that evokes an intimate and close encounter. Wandering through Europe, he creates a poignant experience addressing the life of a migrant trying to gain access to a society.