Two-colour risograph print of a former squat in the Athenian donwtown neighbourhood of Exarcheia. I visited this place for a year, having tagged along a local small volunteer group that was doing art activities with refugee children and familes. The volunteers were visiting this squat every week, making the families living there forget about their uncertain circumstances for at least a little while.
This print is a reflection of the space that I was visiting every week, and of the difficult circumstances some peoople unfortunately end up in.
The residents of this squat - also called ‘The 5th’ - were people from Aghanistan, Iraq, Syria, parts of Northern and Eastern Africa, and more. They had found a temporary home down at ‘The 5th’ and were well integrated within the local community. Some were waiting for their asylum status papers, and some families’ children were beginning school. Yet on 23rd of September 2019, the squat was emptied without justification, and the families dispersed. I wrote about and illustrated my experiences and the closure of the squat in the Louxembourg-based Kulturissimo magazine (november 2019).
You can also read the story behind the print in the Issue 16 of Pressing Matters - a publication about printmakers, for printmakers. You can purchase this issue here
This print is a reflection of the space that I was visiting every week, and of the difficult circumstances some peoople unfortunately end up in.
The residents of this squat - also called ‘The 5th’ - were people from Aghanistan, Iraq, Syria, parts of Northern and Eastern Africa, and more. They had found a temporary home down at ‘The 5th’ and were well integrated within the local community. Some were waiting for their asylum status papers, and some families’ children were beginning school. Yet on 23rd of September 2019, the squat was emptied without justification, and the families dispersed. I wrote about and illustrated my experiences and the closure of the squat in the Louxembourg-based Kulturissimo magazine (november 2019).
You can also read the story behind the print in the Issue 16 of Pressing Matters - a publication about printmakers, for printmakers. You can purchase this issue here
