Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Festive art of refugees’ lost clothes
LONDON: As a group of homeless men doze on pews, and colourful t- shirts and baby shoes hang low from the ceiling, London’s St James’ Church is ready for Christmas.
The atmospheric church built by Christopher Wren in 1676 in London’s smart Piccadilly area is home this festive season to a haunting exhibition by British artist Arabella Dorman.
Dorman has sculpted more than 700 items of clothing discarded on the beaches and olive groves of Lesbos island in Greece, to highlight the plight of refugees.
A brightly coloured African- print dress, billowing burqas and a faded football shirt surround a glowing orb that brightens and dims, representing the oscillating hope and despair of refugees who arrive on the Greek shores.
“I picked up some of these clothes and was immediately struck by the hidden presence of the wearer and I reflected on the power of clothes to tell a story,” Dorman said.
“Every time you pick up a new item of clothing you’re engaging with another life.”
From afar, the clothes hang in a mass like a ghostly chan- delier adorning the nave of the church.
But the artist, who has worked in Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq, wants worshippers to look closer and reflect on the individuals who once wore the garments.
“Refugees are not numbers, they are people,” she said.
Hurried Christmas shoppers, wrapped up in scarves to keep out the winter cold, stop by the church for a moment of quiet contemplation.
“It’s very beautiful and very touching,” said Tahlia, a 26-year-old Australian tourist. “It made me think that everyone deserves to have a place to come and feel welcome.”
Passer-by Bill Richardson, 54, said he felt challenged by the artwork and curious about the tragic journeys the tangled clothes portrayed.
“It did make me stop and think about how grateful I am in life and to give thought and consideration to those not as fortunate as myself,” he said.
More than 3,000 people have seen the installation in the last 10 days as they attend the church for carol services, said Rector Lucy Winkett.
Winkett said the message of Christmas had been forgotten, and the refugee crisis had strong parallels to the Christian nativity story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
“It’s a very modern story of a despotic leader, a dangerous situation and a family fleeing from peril,” she said. “This is actually what Christmas is about, this story happening in Europe right now, that’s the Christmas story.”
The installation is entitled Suspended as the clothes dangle above the church altar and it also represents the state of uncertainty of refugees.
“They are suspended in limbo – stuck between a past to which they can not return and a future to which they cannot move forward,” Dorman said.
The project aims to raise funds for the Starfish Foundation, a charity in Lesbos where hundreds of refugees arrive each month. – Reuters
UN flays Poland
GENEVA: The UN expert on the independence of judges and lawyers has criticised Poland for legal reforms that have already attracted unprecedented censure from the EU, dubbing them a serious breach of the rule of law.
Diego García-Sayán, a special rapporteur mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, said yesterday that Poland’s newly adopted laws threatened the independence of the judiciary.
“These laws are part of a larger plan aimed at placing the judiciary under the political control of the ruling party,” he said. – Reuters
Disaster devastates
MANILA: A mudslide triggered by heavy rain has buried dozens of houses in a farming community in the southern Philippines, local disaster officials said yesterday.
Soldiers and emergency workers rushed to a village in the Tubod region in Lanao del Norte province, expecting to find casualties from landslides and flooding, local disaster official Roy Secuya told journalists.
Secuya said: “There were unconfirmed reports of deaths but we still do not have the numbers.” – Reuters
Air strikes in DRC
KAMPALA: The Ugandan army has attacked camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo housing Ugandan Islamist rebels blamed for a raid this month that killed 14 UN peacekeepers.
The attack yesterday, carried out with air strikes and long- range weapons from inside Uganda, is the first in a joint military operation by DRC and Ugandan armies against the rebel Allied Democratic Forces.
A DRC army spokesman declined to comment. – Reuters
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