Remembering Lampedusa

It’s 3 October 2013. An overcrowded fishing boat has set sail from Libya. Its destination is the Italian island of Lampedusa. Close to land the boat starts to experience technical problems. A fire is lit on board in a desperate cry for help. Something goes wrong. The fire spreads. In the resulting panic the boat capsizes. Just 155 out of over 500 passengers manage to survive the catastrophe.

In the exhibition Remembering Lampedusa we get to read the personal stories of a few of the passengers who eventually made it to Europe. We can also listen to Adal Neguse’s tale of sorrow and loss.

The people we meet in the exhibition come from Eritrea – one of the world’s harshest dictatorships. Over 15 per cent of the country’s population have left over the course of the last 20 years. A small number of these have made their way to Sweden.

Remembering Lampedusa is part of a joint project between film director Anna Blom, researcher Dr Karina Horsti and human rights activist Adal Neguse. Over a number of years they have documented our moral attitude to Europe’s deadly borders, as well as our reactions to the reception of refugees and humanitarian disasters.

The number of people in the world fleeing from one place to another continues to rise. Due to Europe’s ever stricter border controls, the routes refugees need to take over the Mediterranean have become even more hazardous. So fewer flee to Europe. The seas around the continent also continue to be scenes of human tragedy.

The temporary exhibition will be shown at Maritiman during the season of 2021.

 

Therefore we must not forget – let us remember.

We remember Lampedusa.