Anna Gritti
Italy
www.annagritti.com
IG:  anna_gritti

Nel mare (Into the Sea)
2024
Engraving (mezzotint, acquaforte, puntasecca), passport paper, mixed kinds of paper, wires
5,12×3,4×0,71

Artist Statement

My book is dedicated to all the human beings who lost their lives in the desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea with makeshift boats and were unable to reach Europe, in the hope of starting a life without wars, famines and violence of every type. It is a silent book, it contains only a poem by the great Italian writer Erri de Luca “Our sea that you are not in the skies”, while on the cover there is article 98 of the UNCLOS and on the back cover article 10 of the Italian Constitution concerning the rights of refugees.

In the hidden pages there is:

– an original passport page with a “Rejected” stamp stamped by me
– an ultrasound in inverted colors (water/life-water/death) with little clothes hanging, a red T-shirt and blue pants, what little Ailan (a Syrian baby three years old) was wearing when he was found dead on the shore, transported by the sea
– a double page in gold leaf reminiscent of the gold paper blankets used by emergency workers
– another hidden page shows a nautical school exercise to plot a route, on graph paper.

The pop ups, in addition to the clothes, are an upright and an upside down boat, both made with passport sheets.
The inside of the cover is shaped like a life jacket.