All human feelings and emotions are concentrated in exile. Pain, fear, nostalgia, sadness…
What motivates him to follow the trail of exiles around the world?
We did an exhibition that went around the world and a documentary. So I interviewed many exiles and found that the children never showed up. I thought I had to build the story of exile from the second generation as well. And I followed his trail.
What do those who adapt to the new life have in common?
In fact, almost everyone is adapting to the new life, especially the children who arrive younger and become part of the local culture.
Are there people who die of grief?
Most of the time these are people who have already had their whole life behind them. It is a more dramatic situation for writers than for other people when they write in Catalan because of the language problem. Plastic artists live much better. Many of them become real stars in the Dominican Republic.
Who is the most successful exile?
There is a story that was taboo. It was considered inelegant to explain it. There was a group of exiles who founded the Property Bank in Mexico. These people did very well. Catalan high society arose around this bench. They were businessmen, bankers…
Why is it not stylish to talk about exiles who had good lives?
Exile was always given a one-sided view in which only misfortune was explained. The whole exile focused on the first days, on the images of people walking to the border with their suitcases. Then things get even worse when they encounter World War II. But after 45, a different era begins. Hitler fell, Mussolini fell, but not Franco. It was time to redesign her life.
So are there different types of exile?
There are many of them. In summary, there is the tragic and the untragic, which no longer had as much political value. Dalmau Costa, for example, head of protocol at the Generalitat, managed to open a restaurant serving French cuisine in Mexico.
Is the first look more appropriate?
It’s like everything. If you talk about the exiles in Argentina from the dictatorship and explain that there were people among them who were successful, then you distract from the drama of the situation. But life is like that. People look for their own opportunities.
What anecdote caught your attention the most?
Cuba left a lot in the final destinations. Why were they all there? Many of those displaced were members of the Communist Party. When the revolution breaks out, their children go to Cuba to fight for the cause.
You can tear a man from his land, but not from the land of his heart, it is said.
The nostalgia for this place is great. The Catalans built a ski resort in the Chilean Andes. It was called Farellones, Catalan ski center. What are the station houses called? Cadaqués or Empúries, in the middle of the snow. Nostalgia created little Catalonia wherever the exiles went.
