"Impressed by the news and images that arrived about boats adrift seeking refuge, I began to graphically express what I felt. These graphic notes became, a few years ago, the first engraving that I called the Refugee Series. The theme began to emerge. I became interested and looked for typical names from the countries of origin of many refugees such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria... names that were also part of an engraving.
Reading Txell Feixas Torras's book Dones valentes made me think of the words of the Syrian Diala Brisly, a refugee activist, when she said that the tragedy begins before the sea and the boats. This is the reason for the project name change. Refuge, refugee are words that mean welcome. The people on top of a boat were not refugees. They were people escaping tragedy. Hence the name that I finally gave to the exhibition of engravings: Fleeing from what and to where? This name has made me see any news in a different way, news often assimilated as something normal, about the people who await reception on top of a boat. Later I received information about the deaths in the desert. The desert was the ignored grave of people seeking refuge. The desert was a new subject that expanded the series of prints he was making.
A boat full of people is a question: what are they fleeing from, where do they think they are going? And, how many people have not even been able to get on a boat!"
Ramon Llinés Camps
"Impressed by the news and images that arrived about boats adrift seeking refuge, I began to graphically express what I felt. These graphic notes became, a few years ago, the first engraving that I called the Refugee Series. The theme began to emerge. I became interested and looked for typical names from the countries of origin of many refugees such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria... names that were also part of an engraving.
Reading Txell Feixas Torras's book Dones valentes made me think of the words of the Syrian Diala Brisly, a refugee activist, when she said that the tragedy begins before the sea and the boats. This is the reason for the project name change. Refuge, refugee are words that mean welcome. The people on top of a boat were not refugees. They were people escaping tragedy. Hence the name that I finally gave to the exhibition of engravings: Fleeing from what and to where? This name has made me see any news in a different way, news often assimilated as something normal, about the people who await reception on top of a boat. Later I received information about the deaths in the desert. The desert was the ignored grave of people seeking refuge. The desert was a new subject that expanded the series of prints he was making.
A boat full of people is a question: what are they fleeing from, where do they think they are going? And, how many people have not even been able to get on a boat!"
Ramon Llinés Camps