Libya: Tipping points

© Amru-Salahuddien

From October 5^th to November 1^st

Collective exhibition by Doctors Without Borders

The majority of migrants in Libya came here to work: others, seeking asylum, came here to attempt to make the crossing to the shores of Europe. Whatever their plans, they are in constant danger, and their lives can be plunged into horror from one moment to the next.
Their plans crumble as soon as they arrive in the country, on the edge of the Libyan desert criss-crossed by convoys of pick-ups. They have to pay out more money than they had expected, get into buses without knowing their destination, obey instructions at gunpoint, be robbed of their possessions and then attempt to survive despite attacks and violence. Further along on the journey, as they approach the coast, they are still in danger. During Marshal Haftar’s offensive on the capital, missiles were striking Tripoli and its suburbs, hitting streets, worksites and warehouses swarming with cheap foreign labour, prisons full of abandoned asylum seekers, and the port where those trying to make the Mediterranean crossing are brought back to land by Libyan coastguards. Trying to catch their breath until the next time. Everything is arbitrary, as witnessed by the Doctors Without Borders teams in various detention centres.

This collective exhibition aims to show the tipping points which punctuate the daily lives of exiles in Libya, trapped between hopes of a better future, brutal and lucrative trafficking, an ever-changing conflict and increasingly repressive European policies designed to prevent asylum seekers from reaching the continent. They are waiting, afraid, finding a delicate balance, somehow getting by. Some of them do not survive these tipping points – their broken bodies are found in jails, or thrown on to roadsides, washed up on beaches or stored in morgues.

Photographs:
Narciso Contreras
Giulio Piscitelli
Alessio Romenzi
Amru Salahuddien
Emanuele Satolli
Lorenzo Tugnoli

This exhibition was created in association with

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Tapisserie de Bayeux Chapelle
Open every day 10 am to 12.30 pm and 2pm to 6 pm.
Exceptionally open Friday October 9^th until 7 pm and Saturday October 10^th from 10 am to 6 pm.

Free Admission