Rome, a large street artwork will be created in this street with the names of 36,570 migrants who died in the Mediterranean Sea

In just over twenty-five years, from 1993 to the beginning of 2019, thousands of migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe: 36,570 of them have been identified by name and surname, and to pay tribute to them, from December 10, artist Fabio Saccomani will create a large street art work in Rome’s Pigneto neighborhood. Entitled (S)ink, the work will be created in Via del Pigneto: the names of the 36,570 identified victims will be written on the pedestrian island street, with the use of a water-repellent paint that will react only when wet. With the result that the work will be invisible most of the time, while it will emerge on rainy days: thus, passersby will find themselves stepping on the names of dead migrants.

“This surfacing, conveyed by the water that recalls the sea, where most of these people drowned,” the project’s presentation reads, “allows the names to speak, to insert them into a visible/invisible dialectic that overwhelms the viewer, disrupts the sense of place and the sense of security that confers the ordinary and the familiar.” In the media and public discourse, the text further states, “these deaths are spoken of as a natural disaster, as something inevitable. It is a language that produces an alienating effect, capable of guiltily concealing the fact that war, misery and environmental catastrophes are the result of precise agreements and political alliances, which, in an indirect way, call into question an intentionality. An intentionality that emerges between the lines of European laws on migration and security, which wink at the disgruntled belly of an electorate ready to designate scapegoats against whom to turn on itself.”

A founding element of the work will bewater, which recalls the death by drowning of migrants but also becomes a vehicle of memory: the path of the water enshrines the dramatic end of the journey and reveals to the viewer the names of those who lost their lives trying to reach Europe. And just as the migrants left no trace of themselves, so will the work: only a plaque will indicate their presence under the rays of the sun, when the street becomes neutral scenery again.

The performance is part of the Biennale MArte Live section MArte Visiva special projects, curated by Oriana Rizzuto and Giuseppe Casa, a festival with exhibitions, street art, photography and urban works that will be held in Rome, in different spaces, from December 3 to 14, 2019 (on the website martelive.it all the information and the complete program). The project will be concluded on June 20, 2020, on World Refugee Day.

Rome, a large street artwork will be created in this street with the names of 36,570 migrants who died in the Mediterranean Sea

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