boat refugees

In the first quarter of the year a lot of boat refugees have died in their quest for freedom and happiness. I cannot grasp the bad living conditions these people must be living in for them to willingly risk their lives and pay a fortune to make the trip to Europe. On the other hand I’m quite ashamed that we, the rich Western people, don’t take responsibility and step up to help these people. Aren’t we all citizens of the world? Does humanity stop at the border?

I needed to give these strong feelings a place in my ARTicles book.

I started by coloring the sea with some ultramarine brusho and glued down 2 pieces of a map.

One representing Africa and the Middle East which I colored in black to represent war.

And  one representing Europe, the promised land, which I colored in happy colors and added hummingbirds and butterflies.

Between the two I added lines representing the boat trips and here and there black crosses and red for the lost lives and the blood loss.

I hope that there can come a humane solution for this difficult issue.