| Description: | This arpillera depicts the perilous sea journey undertaken by people fleeing their homelands in Africa and Asia to escape war and persecution, in search of a better life in Europe. In 2015, more than one million people boarded unseaworthy boats and dinghies in a desperate attempt to reach Greece, Italy and Spain en route to Europe. Of these, almost 4,000 were missing, believed drowned. UNHCR, (2015). Three years later,in 2018, of the 58,600 who made the sea crossing to Spain (more than double the number in 2017), 777 perished (a threefold increase from 2017). (UNHCR), January 2019, "Desperate Journeys" (p8)
Through a letter tucked at the back of her arpillera, Antonia expresses outrage at their perilous journey and the often hostile reception awaiting them on the shores of the Iberian peninsula: “On the “good” side of the fence [shows] that …while on the boat they never thought they would find their death.” For these asylum seekers and migrants who “believed they [were coming] to paradise…it was the Police that awaited them on the shore of the peninsula.”
On the next stage of their journey they are transported to detention centres, where they can be held indefinitely, while the courts decide if they will be granted refugee status or deported.
Such a system, where the odds are stacked against those fleeing persecution prompts Antonia to conclude: “… in the XXI century human rights are not respected....We all have the right to a dignified life, no matter where you come from.” |
