| Left behind in the large cayucos or smaller pateras that brought them, the belongings of would be immigrants from the Western shores of Africa to the Canary Islands remain deserted and forgotton. For weeks at a time, while the local town authorities decide how best to dispose of the boats, these possessions lie rotting, remnants of a bleak and harsh journey that for many results in death and a daily reminder of the once crucial part they played in this transition from one life to another. The paraphernalia that we see here is not scattered by the strong winds of the ocean, but discarded and abandoned purposely, unwanted at journeys end, to be replaced by western equivalents. Some are distinct, unmistakably belonging to a life they choose to leave behind, others more familiar, recognised and desired by us all. But perhaps they raise questions too. Are we to read anything into the number 15 written on a piece of driftwood? Does it signify the number of people who have fallen overboard weakened by the harsh weather, or those who have been cast off already dead? The jeans that hang on the side of the boat - have they been laid out simply to dry or were they rescued from the body of a now gone companion, to be used for added warmth by their new owner? The books so undeniably rejected, as if the courage provided by their contents was sufficient? As the boats sink to the seabed new stories begin for the lives of the people that left a grim journey behind. |
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