“Isolated Memories”: an Online Exhibition on the Memory of Colonial Deportations from Libya to Italy
The enduring impact of the colonial legacy in Europe remains a contentious issue. Attacks on colonial symbols, such as statues and street plaques, highlight the continuity between the colonial past and the persistence of racism and inequality today. At the same time, Europe’s securitized approaches to migration governance systematically produce dynamics of racial segregation and othering, which inevitably recall the colonial period. It could be argued that Europe’s efforts to control the freedom of movement of the newly constructed 'Other'—the migrant—sadly evoke a particular form of past colonial violence, still largely unknown to Europe’s general public: the deportation of thousands of individuals from Libya to Italy in the early decades of the twentieth century.
In 1911, when Italy invaded what today is known as Libya, it faced unexpected and widespread local resistance. The Italian government's response was to deport thousands of individuals, including children, women and the elderly, to the metropole. After a long journey, deportees were mainly sent to penal colonies on the southern Italian islands of Ponza, Favignana, Ustica and the Tremiti archipelago. Hundreds of deportees were also sent to the military prison of Gaeta (Southern Latium) between 1911 and 1912. This repressive policy was systematically implemented throughout the 1910s. Under Fascism, deportations became more selective, targeting mainly notable members of Libyan communities. Deportations and imprisonment within the colony were not uncommon under European colonial rule, but deportations to the metropole were significantly rarer. However, between the late 19th century and the 1930s, Italy deported thousands of individuals from its colonies in Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Deportations from Libya were far more numerous and systematic than those from other colonies, and hundreds of people lost their lives during their forced exile in Italy.
As some scholars have noted, the forced movement of thousands of people from Libya to Italy inevitably recalls the deadly migratory routes that currently link Northern Africa to Europe. For many, these routes are the only means of reaching Fortress Europe, which has been rendered impenetrable by a strict visa regime that prevents citizens of the Global South from traveling via safe and legal channels. The systematic dehumanization of migrants, framed as a response to the perceived threat they pose to the integrity of Europe’s borders, mirrors the dehumanization of Libyan deportees, who were uprooted and deprived of their freedom due to the alleged threat they posed to the colonial invaders. Furthermore, Italy’s policy of relegating unwanted subjects to small and remote islands during the colonial period echoes the current situation of islands like Lampedusa and Lesvos, which have been constructed by European media and policymakers as symbolic sites of confinement for the new ‘Other’. The continuity between past forms of colonial violence and the present is often unspoken and intangible in mainstream discourse. However, memory can play a crucial role in prompting reflections on the colonial legacy that tarnishes Europe’s present.
Have these brutal colonial histories left any visible trace in former sites of confinement? Can the memory of these histories be retrieved in the present?
The online exhibition ‘Isolated Memories: Remembering (and Forgetting) Colonial Deportations from Libya to Italy’ seeks to answer these questions. It does so by encouraging viewers to reflect on the role that memory sites can play in prompting questions on the colonial legacy, its (in)visibility in the space we inhabit, and its enduring impact on the present. The exhibition features over 30 pictures taken throughout 2023 on the islands of Ponza, Ustica, Favignana, the Tremiti archipelago, and the former military prison of Gaeta (Latium). Interestingly, the islands are among the very few sites where Italy’s colonial past is recognized and somehow remembered through various plaques and monuments that commemorate Libyan deportees.
The main section of the exhibition showcases pictures of these artefacts, most of which were erected throughout the 2000s, in the context of a joint Italy-Libya research project that focused on colonial deportations. Additionally, the exhibition features pictures of sites where Libyans were detained or worked while forcibly exiled to the islands. Today, these buildings serve as community spaces, restaurants, bars, local historical landmarks. Their past function as sites of detention is intangible and often unknown even to the islands’ residents. Therefore, the exhibition seeks to make visible the hidden history of these sites, a history that is partly articulated by the commemorative monuments present on the islands. Although the focus of the exhibition is on the islands, it also features a section dedicated to the former military prison of Gaeta, where hundreds of Libyan deportees were detained between 1911 and 1912. Unlike the islands, there are no artefacts commemorating the past presence of Libyan deportees here.
The history of colonial deportations from Libya to the islands intersects with other histories of forced exile and confinement. The exhibition engages with these histories in a dedicated section named ‘Local Memories’. Throughout two centuries, the islands functioned as sites of police exile and confinement under various regimes. The establishment of the Fascist confino system, which involved exiling thousands of political opponents, as well as Roma people, homosexuals and suspected “enemies” of the regime, brought some notable Italian political characters to the islands, including Antonio Gramsci and future President Sandro Pertini. Additionally, between 1940 and 1943, the islands of Ponza, Ustica, and the Tremiti archipelago served as concentration camps for prisoners captured in the Western Balkans by the Fascist regime. By focusing on artefacts commemorating the Fascist period on the islands, the exhibition invites online visitors to reflect on the way these histories are (or are not) remembered. In light of the indisputable relevance of the Fascist legacy today, online visitors are encouraged to question whether and how these local histories of forced exile and confinement are reflected in national and European narratives, and whether they interact with colonial memories.
The exhibition also engages with the voices of local communities. The section ‘Local Communities and the Memory of Colonial Deportations’ is the result of an online workshop held in December 2023, featuring the participation of local stakeholders from the islands of Ponza, Favignana, Ustica, the Tremiti archipelago, and the city of Gaeta. Throughout the workshop, participants were encouraged to discuss the extent to which the exhibition’s pictures captured the past presence of Libyan deportees in former sites of confinement, and how these sites could be re-imagined by making the colonial past visible. This point enabled a broader discussion about the colonial legacy in Italy and Europe, and the role memory can play in making it visible. Participants also reflected on the relationship between the islands’ communities and Libya. Colonial deportations played an important role in the colonial dispute between General Qaddafi and Italy. Until the fall of Qaddafi, Libyan delegations periodically visited the islands to pay tribute to the victims of mass deportations. After the fall of Qaddafi, visits and exchanges have impressively declined, which has contributed to obscuring the memory of colonial deportations.
"If local communities are not aware of the history of colonial deportations, how do we restart a relationship with Libyans?" participants wondered.
This section of the exhibition incorporates some key reflections emerging from the workshop, which are matched to some of the main exhibition’s pictures. Some participants’ pictures also feature in the exhibition to show how specific sites might have changed over time. Participants also contributed to caption some pictures.
The memories of colonial deportations from Libya to Italy are both geographically and symbolically isolated. They are enshrined in small, remote locations that appear disconnected from the national community. Their geographical position seemingly inhibits their potential to challenge Italy’s ultra-positive discourse about its colonial past. By illuminating local forms of memory work and oblivion, the exhibition does not wish to silence the experiences and memories of the victims of colonial deportations. Instead, by focusing on both visible and invisible traces of colonial violence, it seeks to shed light on the past and challenge the isolation of these colonial histories. In doing so, the exhibition highlights the important role that memory can play in raising awareness about overlooked segments of Europe’s colonial history, while also prompting a critical reflection on the endurance of colonial dynamics of segregation and othering in Europe’s present.
Galadriel Ravelli, University of Bath
Images courtesy of Galadriel Ravelli