Refugee List 2019 - Present
Refugee List is a multimedia piece which aims to eulogise every one of the 36,570 refugees who have died trying to seek asylum in Europe. The piece is based permanently on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and occasionally takes from as a live performance during exhibitions comprising stickers and a typewriter. Due to the EU’s ‘Fortress Europe’ policies increasing the number of deaths, it is expected that the project will take several years to complete.
On the morning of the 10th of November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Millions of people across Europe celebrated this momentous event, sure to mark the beginning of a free and open world. Thirty years later, European nations have built over 1000 kilometres of new border walls, the equivalent of six Berlin Walls.
In 2015 Europe was shocked by the graphic images of the body of the three-year-old Syrian child, Alan Kurdi, laying on a beach in Turkey, almost exactly 1000km from his home town of Kobane, Syria, which had been under siege by ISIS for the last year. Alan’s family were put in the desperate position of being forced to risk their lives crossing the ocean because 1000km of safe passage is now blocked.
The European border-defence industry is booming, with the European Commission pledging €11.2 billion over the next decade to Frontex, the EU’s Border and Coast Agency. In 2015 the Head of Frontex stated that “Saving migrant lives in the Mediterranean should not be the priority for the maritime patrols.” Since then over 15,000 people have perished trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to safety. If a refugee is fortunate enough to survive their journey, they face dehumanising political rhetoric, far-right violence and impossible asylum processes. In 2012 Theresa May stated, “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.” This declaration signalled the beginning of the ‘Hostile Environment’, a collection of policies that lead to the Windrush Scandal, the rise of xenophobia across the UK and EU, and the further deaths of thousands of refugees.
When considering these facts, the memory of the fall of Berlin Wall should not be a signifier of the enlightened progressiveness of Europe, but a shameful reminder of the abject failure to cultivate a society of unity, liberty and acceptance for all.
The source for this project is United Against Racism’s ‘List of Refugee Deaths’ which can be viewed HERE.
