Owing to the scarceness of resources that are usually
allotted to those who arrive as refugees, Street Artist and muralist Sebastien
Waknine relies solely upon the thinnest piece of charcoal as he works on this
new wall.
“Learning from Migrants and Refugees” is the name of the collection
of scenes that document the situations that people can be in when escaping from
strife and fear – the human aspect of appealing to the help of another society.
After five weeks of intensive work, Waknine stood aside during a public
introduction as a Syrian man held the microphone and described the scenes to an
assemble crowd in Barcelona.
Created
in the gardens on the Hospital of Sant Pau in Barcelona, the mural was
commissioned by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and will be exhibited in
various locations within the city of Barcelona.
Organizers
say that the mural highlights the journey of refugees from the ravages of war
and poverty in their countries as well as the realities of their living conditions
in their host countries.
It is an unusual technique for a public work these days, as
many have become accustomed to the splashy nature of big murals and festivals
that present them. Here the warmth of the rendering and the humanity conveyed
in the faces and gestures is only magnified when one gets close enough, even
intimate with, the artwork.
The detached impersonal nature of war by drone has enabled
such masses of people to be uprooted and chased from their lives – and a viewer
may contrast the experience of the driver of that drone drawn in the sky with
close-up terror of innocents whom Waknine depicts.