THE PASSAGE
— dedicated to our fallen comrades
selma banich and Marijana Hameršak in collaboration with Women to Women collective
Živi Atelje DK, Zagreb, 2021
WORKSHOP series, MEMORIAL PRINT AND EXHIBITION
The Passage is a collection of memorial portraits made in red and black thread on botanically dyed fabric created during a series of art and research workshops held from November 2020 to February 2021 in Zagreb, Croatia.
The workshops were devised and curated by selma banich and performed with great affection and care by artists, researchers, translators, and other members and supporters of the Women to Women collective and the Croatian Science Foundation research project ERIM – The European Irregularized Migration Regime in the Periphery of the EU: from Ethnography to Keywords.
This commemorative practice represents a continuation of previous fierce collaborations, intertwining the textile artwork They Can't Kill Us All - Love & Rage crafted for International Women's Day by the Women to Women collective in collaboration with artist selma banich and the Memorial Page launched by Transbalkan Solidarity in the summer of 2020, and is based on the extensive fieldwork of ERIM in Karlovac County during the summer and autumn of 2020.
The Passage was designed to convey a strong political and spiritual message. By commemorating the lives of the people who have died on the migrant trail in the Balkans, whose lives were taken by the relentless European death regime, we call for an act of excavation, paving the way for individual and collective healing, a passage from the normalization of border tragedies to communal learning, empowerment, and care.
#weareresilient #weremember
Fieldwork
In the summer and autumn of 2020, ERIM researchers and associates conducted a series of fieldwork visits to Karlovac County, a Croatian region that recently became one of the most frequent and deadliest clandestine passages from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU. The ERIM fieldwork was focused on the migrants’ postmortem itineraries, visits to local cemeteries and places of border deaths, as well as interviews with different actors about their engagements, practices, and protocols related to the people who died on their way to Europe. In interviews and in further research, their mostly anonymous wooden obelisks in this region, scattered all over the county, were revealed as symbols of the individuals’ tragic death and losses, as well as of the brutalities of the border regime that routinely produces such deaths.
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Keywords
Counter-memorialization
As formulated by Maurice Stierl, counter-memorialization is a practice based on the “merging of grief for particular and general losses with a radical critique of the EUropean border regime” (2016: 184).
Stierl, Maurice. 2016. “Contestations in Death. The Role of Grief in Migration Struggles”. Citizenship Studies 20/2: 173-191.
Digital Memory Objects
Digital memory objects or digital shrines have the function of archiving, documenting, sharing, mourning and grieving. They rematerialize and initiate commemorative practices and have the ability to create and maintain social, human relationships, bring people together, etc.
Horsti, Karina. 2019. “Digital Materialities in the Diasporic Mourning of Migrant Death”. European Journal of Communication 34/6: 671-681.
Normalization of Border Deaths
Normalization of border deaths is the mirror process of a-normalization, exceptionalization of migration. “Even when border deaths appear (or are presented) as ‘natural or ‘accidental’, they are in fact the result of the structural violence of migration policies” (Cuttitta 2020: 11). Paolo Cuttitta (2020: 12) highlights that presenting border deaths as accidental, or as a result of nature, criminal activities, or of the irresponsible action of migrants, means diverting the attention from these deaths’ roots in migration and border policies.
Cuttitta, Paolo. 2020. “Preface. The increasing Focus on Border Deaths”. In Border Deaths. Causes, Dynamics and Consequences of Migration-related Mortality. Paolo Cuttitta and Tamara Last, eds. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 9-20.
Postmortem itinerary
A postmortem itinerary or postmortal migrant journey are the practices of notifying, identifying, burying, mourning, commemorating and representing various material and immaterial dimensions of border deaths (cf. Kobelinsky 2020).
Kobelinsky, Carolina 2020. “On Border Deaths Management and Ungrievability”. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2020/10/border-deaths
Border Deaths
Border deaths or migrant deaths “describe the premature deaths of persons whose movement or presence has been unauthorized and irregularized as they navigate or interact with state-made boundaries” (Last 2020: 21). A narrow definition includes only those deaths that occur during the border crossing (at the borderline) or the transit from one country to another, while more contextual definitions include deaths that can be in any way related to any material or immaterial state-made boundaries in any space and/or at any time. The definition also varies depending on who is included in dead – people whose bodies are found, persons who are missing, disappeared or who are believed to be dead (e.g., because they disappeared during a shipwreck), etc.
Last, Tamara 2020. “Introduction. A State-of-the-Art Exposition on Border Deaths”. In Border Deaths. Causes, Dynamics and Consequences of Migration-related Mortality. Paolo Cuttitta and Tamara Last eds. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 21-33.
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Epilogue
A meditative walk along the bank of the Sava river and through the forest park Jelenovac, on a sunny autumn day, proved to be ideal for gathering plants — fallen leaves and petals — and wooden sticks covered with moss for our botanical printing workshop.
Shortly after the arrival at the atelier, our memorable autumn walk was wrapped in bundles of fragrant cotton fabric. Our desire to bring back to life what was lost — the remains of what had once been alive — was wrapped in colorful bundles, resembling human hearts.
After long hours of simmering, unwrapping the steamed bundles made our faces radiant — resembling the faces of children. Hope, excitement, and joy were deeply woven into our pieces of fabric, which were soon to be embroidered with the contours of the faces belonging to people who are no longer with us.
To some, our botanically dyed fabric evoked the resilient landscapes and perilous terrains that some of us have traversed to get to where we are now, perhaps resembling a passage for a homecoming. For others, it evoked a sense of deep connection to nature and appreciation for this wondrous planet we inhabit.
To us, this fabric will always convey a message of hope and solidarity with those who are no longer with us. By commemorating their lives, we embrace a world without violence, in all its unrestrained forms and borderless landscapes.
By practicing weaving as an act of collective remembering, we embrace both the tame and tender surfaces and the power of the mordant.
We embrace — the passage.
The flow from a fading autumn leaf to an early spring sprout, from a pale botanical imprint to a memorial.
Sara, Ivna, Fatma, and Samaneh’s memorial stitch for an asylum seeker from Iraq, who froze to death in a forest near Fužine in Croatia in 2017.
Samaneh’s memorial stitch for Anouar from Morocco, who lost his life in the Kolpa river near Črnomelj on the border between Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. His body will be returned to Morocco.
Saghar’s memorial stitch for Eslam from Egypt, who lost his life in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 20, 2020.
Jasenka’s memorial stitch for 36-year-old Soki from Chad, who lost his life in the Korana river near Slunj in Croatia. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 30, 2020. Soki was deported from Sweden after having lived there for nearly two decades.
Fatma’s memorial stitch for a 21-year-old man from Afghanistan, who died from a gunshot wound from a hunting firearm in a forest near Kulen Vakuf on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in 2020.
Chandrelle’s memorial stitch for 27-year-old Raki from Algeria, who lost his life together with Ramzi in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. They were with a group of people who called for help. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 20, 2020, and was exhumed on September 1, 2020.
Nibal’s memorial stitch for Ali from Bangladesh, who froze to death in Brezovica forest near Košare in Karlovac County, Croatia in 2020. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on March 20, 2020.
Romana’s memorial stitch for a 45-year-old woman who lost her life in the Danube river near Karavukovo on the border between Serbia and Croatia in 2019, while attempting to cross it in a boat with a group of people from Syria and Iraq during inclement weather. At least three people from the boat managed to swim back to the shore and call for help. A total of six people drowned, including two children.
Fatma’s memorial stitch for a man from Pakistan, who lost his life in lake Sot on the border between Serbia and Croatia in 2019. He was with a group of people who called for help. He was identified by a family member from Norway.
Melike's memorial stitch for 28-year-old Ahmed from Morocco, who died while trying to enter the camp in order to use a shower. Since he was prevented from entering the Miral camp in Velika Kladuša on the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia after he was pushed-back from Croatia, he suffocated while trying to enter the camp facility through a window in May 2020.
Madina’s memorial stitch for a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan, who died in a sinking van that was chased into the Kolpa river by a police vehicle near Slatina Pokupska in Croatia in August 2019. Ten people, including children, were rescued and hospitalized in Sisak. All survivors applied for asylum.
Jasenka’s memorial stitch for 19-year-old Yasa from Egypt, who died in a container shipment transporting fertilizer from Serbia to Paraguay. Yasa’s remains were found on October 23, 2020 in Asunción with the remains of his friends Ahmed, Mohamed, Rachid and Said from Morocco and Hamza and Sid Ahmed from Algeria. The group boarded a train in Šid on the border between Serbia and Croatia, believing they had boarded a train to Italy. The container set sail for Paraguay in the Croatian Port of Rijeka.
Josipa’s memorial stitch for 44-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Ibrahim from Syria, who lost his life in the Dobra river near Duga Resa in Croatia in 2018. His body was buried as “NN” in Lipa cemetery in 2018, and was identified in 2020. His family, wife Rahab and their three children, remain in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
Safaa's memorial stitch for Mohammad, a teenager from Afghanistan, who lost his life in the Una river near Bihać in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019.
Melike’s memorial stitch for Ratib from Syria, who lost his life in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia in October 2019. His body was found in May 2020, and buried in Skakavac cemetery on May 6, 2020.
Lija’s memorial stitch for Rachid from Morocco, who lost his life together with Abdallah in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 30, 2020.
Madina’s memorial stitch for 25-year-old Ahmad from Pakistan, who lost his life in the Kolpa river near Slavski Laz on the border between Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. He was identified by a family member from Greece. His body will be returned to Pakistan.
Marijana’s memorial stitch for 28-year-old Ramzi from Algeria, who lost his life together with Raki in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. They were with a group of people who called for help. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 20, 2020, and was exhumed on September 1, 2020.
Ena's memorial stitch for Abdulljabbar from Palestine, who lost his life in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. His body was buried in Jamadol cemetery in Karlovac on March 29, 2019.
Ena’s memorial stitch for 28-year-old Ahmad from Afghanistan, who died after a hornet sting in Otok near Vukovar in Croatia. His body was buried in Otok cemetery on August 25, 2020.
Iva's memorial stitch for 28-year-old Enisa from Kosovo, who froze to death in a forest near Ličko Petrovo Selo in Croatia in 2011. Her two-year-old son survived.
Ana Dana’s memorial stitch for Khaled Mohammed from Palestine, who lost his life in a river on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in 2020. His body was buried on July 1, 2020. Part of his family remains in the Moria camp in Greece.
Cyrille’s memorial stitch for 27-year-old Yasser from Morocco, who lost his life in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 20, 2020. He was identified by a family member from France.
Josipa’s memorial stitch for 57-year-old Ahmed from Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan), who was beaten to death by a security guard in the Ušivak camp in Sarajevo in May 2020. He left behind a wife and four children, who hope to seek asylum in Europe.
Nibal's memorial stitch for 29-year-old Nacer from Algeria, who lost his life in the Kolpa river near Pravutina on the border between Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on May 7, 2019, and was exhumed on February 3, 2020.
Safaa's memorial stitch for a 28-year-old woman who lost her life in the Danube river near Karavukovo on the border between Serbia and Croatia in 2019, while attempting to cross it in a boat with a group of people from Syria and Iraq during inclement weather. At least three people from the boat managed to swim back to the shore and call for help. A total of six people drowned, including two children.
Samaneh's memorial stitch for Oussama from Algeria, who lost his life in a 70 m deep cave fall on Javornik near Plitvice Lakes in Croatia in 2019. He was with a group of people who called for help.
Lija’s memorial stitch for a 20-year-old man from Syria, who died from hypothermia and exhaustion in Slovenia in November 2019. His family from Germany came to his aid, after receiving his call for help from a forest near Ilirska Bistrica, near the borders with Italy and Croatia. Unfortunately, it was too late. He died in front of the police station in Ilirska Bistrica.
Selma and Yazdan’s memorial stitch for 27-year-old Abdallah from Morocco, who lost his life together with Rachid in the Mrežnica river near Karlovac in Croatia. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on June 30, 2020.
Iva’s memorial stitch for 40-year-old Youness from Morocco, who was found dead in a bus trunk in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in September 2020.
Saghar's memorial stitch for a man, who lost his life in the Kolpa river near Ladešići in Karlovac County on the border between Croatia and Slovenia in 2018. His body was buried as “NN” in Popović Brdo cemetery on October 30, 2019.
Cyrille’s memorial stitch for six-year-old Madina from Afghanistan, who died in a train crash near Šid in 2017, shortly after she and her family were pushed-back from Croatia to Serbia.
Marijana and Eva's memorial stitch for Salah from Algeria, who lost his life in the Kolpa river near Gornje Prilišće in Karlovac County on the border between Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. His body was buried in Skakavac cemetery on April 4, 2019, and was exhumed on September 1, 2020.
Kiana and Kimia’s memorial stitch for 22-year-old Saleh from Palestine, who lost his life in a river on the border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in September 2019. His body will be returned to his family in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Chandrelle’s memorial stitch for a young man who died from electrocution, burning to death on the roof of an arriving train at Tovarnik Station, on the border between Croatia and Serbia in January 2020. His body was taken to the Vukovar Hospital.
Romana, Iva and Mojca’s memorial stitch for a young man from Morocco, who died in a fire on March 27, 2015, in a detention room at the Bajakovo Border Crossing in Croatia. He was detained with three other friends. Two of them died over the next few days at a Zagreb Hospital, and one was seriously injured. His body was buried in Vukovar.