Artwork title : STOP!

STOP!

This work was created in 2016, in response to the first major wave of forced migration that reached Europe. Using raw burlap as a base material, the artist deliberately chooses a surface associated with transport, scarcity, and survival—echoing the fragile conditions of displacement. The composition is reduced to essential human traces: handprints and a blurred, almost dissolving face. These marks appear like echoes of presence—anonymous, yet deeply personal. The hands suggest both a plea and an assertion of existence, while the face remains unstable, as if identity itself is at risk of being erased. The limited palette of earth tones, black, and white reinforces the sense of urgency and rawness. The material is not concealed but exposed, emphasizing vulnerability, transience, and the harsh reality of those forced to leave everything behind. Rather than depicting a specific individual, the work becomes a universal testimony. It speaks of loss, movement, and the fundamental human need to be seen.