Manolya Çelikler

Help, 2016, Stitching on map, Variable dimensions

Those who leave behind their countries and loved ones, attempting to escape war, persecution, rape, and death, crammed by the thousands into tiny boats; those who remain under surveillance for months in the countries they reach, living in detention centres, feeling in their very bones that they are foreign and unwanted, yet forced to carry on…

Our present position is the result of the choices we make throughout life; indeed, what we call life is essentially a collection of choices.

Except for certain lives…

They did not choose; it was imposed upon them. They were driven away from the lands where their umbilical cords were severed. I am certain they could never have imagined, even in their dreams, that they would begin to speak their mother tongue less and less. Hostile to history, estranged from oneself. To be born in those lands, to become a refugee…

In this work, composed of envelopes made from maps and a boat embroidered with the word “Help,” I sought to address, through my own language and methods, the issue of “refugees,” whose numbers continue to increase each day and whose situation has caused crises between countries.