A06 Myths, dreams and propaganda

Myths and propaganda nourished dreams and desires for a better life, letters from relatives and friends invited people to leave without fear, photographs of abundant harvests published in newspapers confirmed the richness of distant lands. This fertile ground was littered with promises from emigration agents, who during the so-called Great Emigration, between 1876 and 1915, fed dreams and fantasies, without explaining the difficulties involved in travelling and especially in settling in lands so different from home.

One of the most common “techniques” was to describe “Merica” (the South as well as the North) as heaven on earth, a land overflowing with resources and possibilities for everyone. If this were not the case, why would one leave behind a precarious but familiar life for unknown places in foreign lands?

In this area, the interactive installation proposes the return home of a “Merican”, a successful migrant who had made his fortune and then goes back home boasting and describing the benefits of emigration. The reality the migrants would find would be quite different.