EFFEA Story: Camille Goujon

©Camille Goujon

What connects seals, archaeology, mermaids, migration, petrochemistry, invasive species, Marseille, Medusa, microplastic and the city of Phocée in Turkey?

This is what Camille Goujon, visual artist and filmmaker, explored during her residency in Phocée by meeting a variety of people: an archaeologist, a fisherman, a historian, an ecologist, and a migrant association. These interviews have been cross-referenced with other encounters on the other side of the Mediterranean basin: in Marseille, founded by the Greeks of Phocée 600 years BC. Phocée owes its name to the seal, the marine mammal that gave rise to the Greek myth of the mermaids, whose songs have been sinking migrants in the Mediterranean for centuries. These stories are giving rise to a film that seeks to understand the ecology of human and animal migrations in the Mediterranean.

In her films, artist Camille Goujon likes to weave seemingly unlikely links between politics, biology and mythology to tell stories that turn out to be meaningful. Her artistic work stems from encounters with people from different professional fields. A resident of Marseille, Camille Goujon has made two animated documentary films with archaeologists. The link with Foça (Phocée), the mother city of Marseille, is, therefore, highly relevant. The story of Phocée, whose inhabitants left ancient Greece in the face of Persian invaders, is the story of the 21st century and all the migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean.

Camille Goujon is also keen to link migration policy issues in the Mediterranean basin with the notion of non-human species, described by biologists as invasive, and to contrast this with the ancient history of the creation of Marseilles through Greek migration. The proliferation of jellyfish in Marseille and Phocée is an economic and ecological disaster. This invasion is driving away tourism and reducing the fish resources essential for fishing. The proliferation of jellyfish is due to three factors: rising sea temperatures, the disappearance of jellyfish predators (including seals) due to industrial fishing, and the absorption of plastic waste that fish mistake for jellyfish.

So it's ecology, in the primary sense of the term: the interaction between living species, that this investigation between Marseilles and Phocaea is all about. Over the last few years in Marseille, Camille Goujon has been working on petrochemicals and their impact on marine biodiversity. She created a performance in which she disguised herself as Petite Styrène (a pun on "the Mermaid" and " styrene ", an organic compound used to manufacture plastics, in particular polystyrene, industrially produced from petroleum). Phocaea is home to "the Bay of the Sirens", a famous character from Greek mythology. Mermaids were seals whose cries were interpreted by sailors as mermaid songs. The ancestors of the people of Marseilles were, therefore, Siren Seals! 

The project continues to evolve with ongoing research informing the animated documentary. This includes interviews with a biologist in Paris, the director of an NGO focused on protecting Turkish and Kurdish migrants crossing the Mediterranean and a specialist in the Mediterranean monk seal in Marseille. Meanwhile, collaborations with local institutions, including the Marseille History Museum and Le Bureau des Guides-GR 2013, pave the way for new work presentations, ensuring the story reaches audiences through multiple creative formats. Very soon, from 20 February to 26 April 2025, the project will be part of the group exhibition 'COALITION' at the Institut Français Izmir. It brings together twelve international artists who, through their committed works, bear witness to the richness and diversity of approaches to the ecological art scene. They embody the community of imaginaries that has grown over the 15 editions of the COAL Prize, the association's flagship initiative for promoting and supporting artists around the world who are imagining and experimenting with the ecological revolution.

Residency description

During a two-week residency at the Foça International Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Documentary Film Festival, the artist will meet with various people: an archaeologist, historian, industrialist from the Phocée petrochemical zone, marine biologist, fisherman...These encounters will be recorded to provide the soundtrack for the film, which will be produced in real images and stop motion. While in Foça, the artist will host a workshop with students and festival volunteers to create stop-motion images. These images will be integrated into the film and publicly presented on the last day of the festival. The second part of the residency, at the Rencontres Internationales Sciences & Cinémas in Marseille, will be an opportunity to meet archaeologists from the Phocaean city, as well as swimmers stung by jellyfish, biologists specialising in micro-plastics, and associations for the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean. The residency will result in a documentary film on both sides of the Mediterranean basin, linking cultures and the history of people and life. The film will be shown at both festivals the following year.

by Camille Goujon

Pictures 1, 3, 4: ©Camille Goujon
Picture 2: ©Tülay Gündem