Dr Federica Mazzara’s research is helping to challenge the dehumanising narrative that has come to surround the migrant crisis.
Dr Mazzara has dedicated her recent work to reclaiming the “migrant crisis” narrative on behalf of the individuals at its centre – who are frequently reduced to criminals or victims.
In her 2019 book, Reframing Migration: Lampedusa, Border Spectacle and Aesthetics of Subversion, for example, Mazzara explores how activism and art is challenging the dominant narrative about migration.
This research led her to conceive of an exhibition that would feed a broader interdisciplinary exploration of migration, representation, and aesthetics.
Sink Without Trace
Alongside artist Maya Ramsay, Dr Mazzara co-curated the major art exhibition Sink Without Trace, hosted at the P21 Gallery in King’s Cross between June and July 2019.
The exhibition is, to date, the most in-depth artistic overview of migrant deaths at sea, including seven artists who had themselves fled to Europe by sea, and several specially commissioned works.
The title, ‘Sink Without Trace’, reflects the fact that most migrants attempting this journey will drown – their bodies never recovered or counted.
Combining art with facts, data, and stories rarely reported in mainstream media, the exhibition’s extensive press coverage helped challenge the dehumanising public narrative of the ‘migrant crisis’.
The Observer (whose content appears on The Guardian website – the UK’s “most widely-read digital newspaper title”, with over 5.2 million weekly readers in 2019) dedicated an extended feature article to the exhibition, which was shared 1,247 times online.
The Financial Times described the “heart-wrenching” story behind one artwork, while the Art Newspaper highlighted how these personal tragedies demonstrate the human cost of UK and EU policy and rhetoric.
“I was a bit afraid of feeling like a voyeur,” said one attendee. “But that has not been my experience. The exhibition is so varied, so raw and shocking in its scope. Everyone should come to see this.”
This exhibition is powerful because it pushes the visitor to think about migrants as single persons, as human beings, in a time where medias try to dehumanize them.”
– A visitor to the Sink Without Trace exhibition
When 291 of attendees were surveyed about their responses to the exhibition:
- 74% confirmed that their views or understanding of migrant deaths at sea had been changed by the exhibition
- 79% said they were more likely to engage with campaigns to improve UK and European migration policies as a result
- 76% of respondents said they were now more likely to give to charities involved in rescue at sea
In fact, the curators partnered with the charity, WatchTheMed Alarm Phone, contributing 70% of exhibition catalogue sales and 50% of artists’ workshop tickets’ sales.
The Alarm Phone is a self-organised hotline for refugees in distress in the Mediterranean Sea, which has assisted tens of thousands of migrants over the past seven years.
Find out more about their work on the Alarm Phone website.
The TO6411 Installation
Sink Without Trace also featured the TO6411 Installation at the nearby Regent’s Canal during Refugee Week (17- 23 June 2019).
Artist Lucy Wood displayed TO6411, a small fishing boat from Libya, in which 36 North Africans successfully reached Lampedusa in 2012.
Wood’s project involved the solo sailing of this boat from Lampedusa to London, stopping off at various Mediterranean ports along the way.
Over 400 people visited the moored boat, and many of those surveyed spoke of how the installation provoked an emotional response.
“The starkness of seeing the vessel, its size when thinking of the number of occupants and the remaining and belongings really shows clearly the difficulties they faced and the extent they were willing to suffer for a chance of bettering their lives” said one visitor.
“Syrian refugees, media, awareness raising through social media affected me, but TO6411 got my attention deeply emotionally,” commented another.
I have been shocked over the years by migrant stories in the media but have not really engaged with the reality before. Visual art can be so powerful and connects with you in a different way.
– A visitor to the TO6411 Installation at Regent’s Canal
The artists: one year on
A year after the exhibition, artists involved in Sink Without Trace reported significant impacts on their careers and artistic processes.
“Discussions with the curators enabled me to develop an idea and consider its conceptual and material manifestation,” says Victoria Burgher. “This interest and feedback from curators leading to new and developed work is so crucial to artists.”
The exhibition’s press attention has also significantly raised artists’ profiles, opening new worlds of opportunity.
“Sink Without Trace gave great visibility to my work, thanks especially to the international media attention,” Max Hirzel says, noting that such exposure – which included a dedicated webpage on The Guardian – had eluded his work in the past.
Tamara Kametani states: “By taking part in the exhibition, I was able to present my work to a new audience, work with new artists, and grow my professional network.”
Find out more
Connect with Federica Mazzara
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