Posted on November 11th, 2015 by Jane Fairhurst

“Art like any disaster, happens very slowly, then all at once.” Anne Enright-novelist

‘Over the Water’ mixed media installation 2008

In 2008 I was invited to respond to the word MIGRATION for an exhibition in Liverpool. This is what I wrote about the work then and it is still relevant now in 2015 .

I’m very happy to have been invited to show this work again as part of Fingers Crossed.

‘My installation ‘Over the Water’ was inspired by Moroccan artist Yto Barrada’s work for ‘Port City’ shown at A Foundation, Liverpool as part of the 2008 Liverpool Biennial.

Growing up near Liverpool I often heard my family use the expression ‘Over the Water’ in reference to the other side of the river Mersey. The same expression is used in many languages where a body of water acts as a barrier or border.

In 1972 I traveled, as a tourist, overland to North Africa, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar by ferry to Morocco. I lived there for six months and then I traveled home. My British passport allowed me to cross the borders freely.

Whilst a Moroccan government goal is to encourage ever more tourists to visit the country the borders to Europe are closed to all but a few Moroccans. The Strait of Gibraltar has become one of the main routes for unofficial border crossings into Europe from North Africa.

People cross in little boats.

Many are caught and sent back.

Some make it and some die trying to cross over the water.

In my installation I have created a flotilla of small boats packed with ‘people’. All are painted the same blue/grey colour in recognition of the loss of individuality that is the status of the migrant.’

Today the same such flimsy crafts are ferrying refugees from wars and poverty which my country has been instrumental in creating. I hope our response to their plight is humane and welcoming. We owe it to our fellow human beings to offer them sanctuary and to take responsibility for their futures as well as our own.