People fleeing to Europe in search of asylum or better life are subjected to a different form of discrimination, violence and deprivation of rights. The idea of creating a hostile environment for them is gaining support among public opinion and policymakers who want to send a clear message in order to deter migration. Fortress Europe is rising, and its entry points are harsh and often deadly.
On the Greek Aegean Islands, thousands of asylum seekers are imprisoned in hellish conditions for an indefinite period of time – their application process can last for months or years, with no certainty about the result. Suffering affects the body and mind of those who are detained and deprived of control over the circumstances of their lives. In these camps, people use their bodies as an instrument of resistance to and/or a coping mechanism to reality – the act of tattooing and other forms of body treatment (self-harm) – in an attempt to regain power and autonomy. The own body becomes a space of personal and political expression. A piece of reality that can be controlled.
Uncertainty of a present moment inscribed onto the body as a permanent pattern.
