“When people are forced to leave their country they don’t only lose their schools, toys and cars. They drop their skin, organs and memories. They transform into outlines of human beings.”
Palestinian Alaa Minawi has been working as a light artist in Beirut for over ten years. Working with Syrian refugees as a translator prompted him to create sculpture ‘my light is your light’. Photo courtesy: Janus van den Eijnden
For Palestinian artist Alaa Minawi, six neon tubes are all it takes to deliver a powerful reminder of Europe’s refugee crisis.
Alaa, who lives in Lebanon, spent three years working as a translator for Syrian refugees applying for asylum in the United States. He said he heard almost 1,000 stories from those he spoke to.
“Most of them were traumatising. For them, this interview is life-changing. It’s like the last rope you throw to a drowned person. My own perception of life changed after these interviews. You appreciate life differently, you see how these people want a future, how they are craving it. I felt I had to create something related to what I heard.”
Palestinian light artist Alaa Minawi. Photo courtesy: Nada Ammous
The resulting sculpture, called ‘My light is your light’, is a set of custom-made white neon lights that “look like extremely fragile human bones”. For Alaa, the entire piece is a stripped down version of one particular family in Lebanon whose story affected him deeply.
“They’re crossing the border,” Alaa said. “The father is in front watching out for the family. The grandfather trails behind him, bent over and exhausted. The mother is walking forward but looking down. The teenager has been left behind. He’s just as traumatised as everyone else, but they don’t notice. There’s also an aunt and a little child.”
Alaa’s installation has toured several cities, including Amsterdam. He said: “I think people want to see the humanitarian side of this conflict. They want to understand that they are real people who are forced to leave their country. Festivals have been very interested in spreading this message.”
A ‘thank you’ to Merkel
Like the Syrian refugees they represent, the six figures in Alaa’s sculpture are crossing borders all over Europe and beyond.
The installation, which premiered at the Amsterdam Light Festival in 2013, has also been displayed in Beirut, Istanbul and most recently, at London’s Winter Lights at Canary Wharf. The sculpture proved so popular that it’s staying in London for two months longer than planned.
“When I talked to these refugees, I felt they had an aura,” says Minawi. “I believe everyone has an aura, has light. And I noticed that they glow with this strong light. I thought this was happening because their stories were trying to come out from their skin.” Photo courtesy: Janus van den Eijnden
“I was surprised that the installation was wanted by so many places,” said Alaa. “Now I have a plan. I’m going to tour it around Portugal and Belgium, but then I’m hoping to sell it in Germany. I contacted Angela Merkel to do an auction together, but she’s really hard to reach. ”
So far, Alaa has written to the Germany’s Chancellor, the Minister for Refugees and has sent a long letter detailing his intentions to the German embassy in Beirut. He wants to work with the German government to exhibit and auction off the sculpture at the end of its European tour. Most of the money raised would go towards helping Syria‘s refugees in Germany.
“Angela Merkel was the first person who was brave enough to open the doors to refugees,” he said. “I appreciate what she did. I want this to be my contribution to her actions. Doing this would give the installation another value beyond delivering an emotional message.”
“My message to Europe is, if you have refugees in your country, treat them like human beings– don’t be scared of them. Anyone, anyone in the world could have been through what they have been through. Europe went through this in World War Two- that wasn’t even long ago. Let’s be kind to these people and help them.”
A message of hope for refugees
According to Alaa, the installation has a message not only for Europeans, but also for refugees themselves.
“I want to tell them that you shine light and you can move on,” he said. “There are five statues whose heads are all down. Except for the little kid.”
Unlike the older figures, the smallest child in the sculpture looks straight ahead, and was intended as a symbol of hope and resilience.
Minawi’s grandfather left Palestine in 1948 and sought asylum in Beirut. He says: “When the Syrians were telling me their stories, there were times I thought, maybe my grandfather went through this. Maybe he has gone through one of these stories. I cannot imagine how hard it must be.”
“Children always adapt,” Alaa said. “They’re stronger than what we think. This little boy was just running and he saw something that grabbed his attention. It’s enough for him to forget about what he’s been through.”
As a refugee himself, Alaa grew up listening to the stories of his grandfather, who fled Palestine in 1948.
“My grandfather owned five houses in Palestine. But when he became a refugee, he lived in a tent in a graveyard in Beirut. It was a traumatic shift, but 60 years later we are back on our feet. I want refugees to know that things get better with time.”
‘My light is your light’ will be on display in Canary Wharf until the end of March 2016.