A painting of a mountain of lifejackets has appeared on a sea wall at Ramsgate’s Western Undercliff.
The image was created on a board by street artist Hugh Whitaker to raise awareness of the hundreds of lives lost in the Channel.
The artwork highlights the number of people seeking asylum who lose their lives every year making the dangerous crossings by sea. In 2024, 880 people have so far died attempting to cross waters in the Mediterranean.
The pop-up mural was created at the Western Undercliff with the changing tide revealing the image of discarded lifejackets. As the tide went out, passers-by spotted the artwork before the charity then removed it.
The Home Office reported as of 12th August, 18,467 people have crossed the Channel this year, that’s more than the same period over the past four years.
Revealed on the date of the most attempted crossings in previous years – August 22nd – the painting highlights the launch of a nationwide campaign by UK-based refugee charity Refugease.
The campaign asks commuters to donate the cost of their journeys to work, contrasting this mundane task to the gruelling attempt to cross the English Channel. Travellers will experience migrant boats ‘physically’ in sea-sick inducing tube station take-overs or aurally in 360 soundscapes nationwide in cinemas.
Valentina Osborn, Refugease founder and Managing Director, said: “Over the past decade, as wars have escalated, neighbouring countries to conflicts are buckling under the pressure of demands to host ever-increasing numbers of families seeking safety, rendering these environments increasingly inhospitable, as resources are scarce and refugee camps crowded. “This has forced refugees to make longer and more dangerous journeys, to the UK for example, to reach safety. This has resulted in an increasing number of tragic drownings in the English Channel.
“Our aim is first to evacuate civilians from where conflicts are at their most precarious, then we do what we can to add to the resources of neighbouring nations (whether food packages, education, employment opportunities, or sustainable farming systems) – doing what we can to help refugees avoid making dangerous journeys further afield.”
Refugease, founded in 2015, is based in Tunbridge Wells.
For more information please visit https://www.refugease.org/.
