you
good morning pride I’d like to start
this talk by a simple little exercise
we’re going to do together when you
arrived on your seat there was a piece
of paper on the pencil if you could take
that if you want and do a little drawing
for me I would like you to take like one
minute and do a drawing of how you
imagine your future it can be a new
house a family an exotic holiday pair of
shoes I don’t know how you imagine your
future to be like Amanita whilst you’re
doing this I’m going to read for you the
three first articles of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights article 1
all human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights they are endowed
with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood article 2 everyone is
entitled to all the rights and freedoms
set forth in this declaration without
distinction of any kind such as race
color sex language religion political or
other opinion national or social origin
property birth or other status
furthermore no distinction shall be made
on the basis of the political
jurisdictional or international status
of the country or territory to which a
person belongs
whether it be independent trust
non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty and finally
article number 3 everyone has the right
to life liberty and
purity of person okay drawing time
finished doesn’t matter if you haven’t
since 2014 over 1.6 million refugees
have arrived in Europe over fourteen
thousand of them have died on the way
the Czech Republic has taken in less
than 14 I am NOT a politician I’m not a
social worker I’m not a doctor I’m not
an NGO I’m not a lawyer or a journalist
I’m a contemporary artist and for the
last 18 months I’ve worked on one only
project the phenomenon of the refugee
crisis I’ve spent more than one year
working with hundreds and hundreds of
refugees I’ve visited more than 25 camps
and squats across Europe and every time
I’ve done this with one single purpose
in mind to give these people their own
independent voice a singular common
voice for hundreds of thousands of
people scattered across Europe for more
than 40 nationalities speaking as many
languages more often than not children
alone and very often who cannot read nor
write the first step to understanding
this humanitarian disaster the first
step to finding a solution is to
understand it but we cannot understand
this disaster just true facts and
figures spoken by politicians and
written in newspapers first and
foremostly this is about people this is
about the lives and the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of
people just like you and me therefore
the people that should visualize and
give voice to this humanitarian disaster
other refugees themselves this project
yesterday today tomorrow maps out like a
visual memory and exodus of the people
coming off refugee refugee boats in
southern Greek islands to the north of
England and refugee centres I visited
and worked in tons and tons of these
places with several hundred refugees and
each time I do one singular thing I
present them with a piece of white paper
three pieces of white paper and some
colored pens and I asked them to do
three drawings for me one drawing of the
life before called yesterday one drawing
of the life today called today and one
drawing of how they imagined a life in
the future called tomorrow in creating
these drawings the refugees are
participating in their own trace the
creating their own contemporary culture
while stimul taneous lee losing all
traceability of their inherited culture
traceability is credibility without it
people can disappear behind me you’ll
see refugee drawings a selection of the
thousands that I’ve recuperated every
drawing counts because every drawing is
so I’ve recuperated I’m constantly
recuperating thousands of drawings
everywhere I go and I’ve one objective
with these drawings to get them heard to
get them seen
if these drawings make up a visual
language like all languages there are
three tenses past tense present tense
and future tense it is my objective in
this world that these drawings are seen
by these voices are heard by a maximum
of people on the planet and I do this in
a number of ways I post these drawings
on social media on Twitter Instagram and
Facebook almost daily I do this for a
number of reasons firstly because every
time I post a drawing I contact the camp
or the squat where the person who made
this drawing lives and I inform them
your drawing has been posted and they
can go on social media because you can
go on social media in a refugee camp you
can find the possibility to get
connected and it’s very important for
these people to be connected because as
I’ve lost all news of family of friends
of their village of the town of the
country it is their only way to know
what’s happening so regularly they go on
social media and I post almost daily and
I tell them and so they go on social
media and they see that there have been
15 tweets 20 likes or hundred follows
whatever that is and you may think
that’s not really important okay
I cannot give them a passport I cannot
give these people food I cannot give
these people medicine I cannot give
these people money but I can give them
hope because when they go on social
media and they see that 20 people or a
hundred people have clicked on their
drawing have heard their voice they know
that 20 people are 100 people believe in
what they do hear what they’re saying
and this instills hope and dignity you
cannot live and hope but without hope
you die so I collect all these drawings
together I post them daily I inform all
the camps I use all these drawings to do
installations
and exhibitions around the world and
museums institutions the recent one was
in the banal in Venice there’s another
one next month in the north of England
I’ve also been working with dr. Henry
Bell from Sheffield Hallam University
since the beginning of this project with
one idea in mind to interpret these
drawings true theatre and performance so
we’ve created theater and performance
around the world each time pushing the
audience to be part of the performance
again another traceable component of the
overall project if the project is to try
and enable these drawings to have
dignity to give voice it’s all about
giving voice if a people does not have a
voice at people does not exist part of
the work with university is also
bringing the students of the university
to high schools in the north of England
where they show the drawings where they
do performance where they show and teach
the young children what it is to be
outcasts what it is to be the ultimate
outcast it’s by educating the younger
generations that maybe a difference can
be made finally I also give public
everything I do is about explaining to
the world this crisis is about
explaining to the world that drawings
like this should not exist there should
not be a 77 year old child who drew this
drawing to represent their day this
drawing to represent who they are I
cannot accept that I will not accept
that everything performances theatre
installations exhibitions public
conferences is for one and one only
objective and that objective
is I believe that we can change the
world through art I believe that step by
step drop by drop person by person we
can make a difference this project can
make a difference I believe sincerely
that so I’d like you to look at your
drawing for a second look at this
drawing it’s not possible it’s not
possible in Europe that a child of this
age draws this drawing it’s not possible
I don’t accept that that’s why I’m here
today that’s why I do what I do is to
show you that there is a voice and this
voice has to be heard and I believe that
we can make a difference together so I’d
like to thank you all for listening to
me and see you soon [Applause]