| Description: | This arpillera depicts the perilous sea journey undertaken by people fleeing their homelands in Africa to escape war and persecution, in search of a better life in Europe. Not all survive the journey. A recent UNHCR report revealed that in 2018, 58,000 people, more than double the figure in 2017, arrived in Spain via the sea route. In the same period, the death rate increased by threefold, from 202 to 777. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/67712#_ga=2.74278162.1846643836.1551099833-501375489.1550664532
Arpillerista Antonia, enraged by these stories, informs us through a letter tucked in a pocket at the back of her arpillera: “On the “good” side of the fence [shows] that …while on the boat they never thought they would find their death.” She graphically portrays the arrival of these asylum seekers and migrants who “believed they [were coming] to paradise.” Instead, she tells us, “it was the Police that awaited them on the shore of the peninsula.”
From there, they are transported onwards to detention centers while the courts decide if they will be granted refugee status or deported.
Such a repressive, undignified system, where the odds are stacked against those journeying forth in the hope of a better life prompts Antonia to conclude: “What a shame that in the XXl century human rights are not respected....We all have the right to a dignified life, no matter where you come from.” |
