Art exhibition by Corina Lacatus

Through artwork I tell part of the visual story of my ethnographic research during 18 months in 2022-2024*. With these photos and accompanying narratives, I invite you to come closer to the stories of migrants who risk their lives crossing the Atlantic from the north-eastern coast of Africa to the Canary Islands, Spain. ‘La ruta canaria’ is the most dangerous maritime route into Europe with the highest number of fatalities in the past years. It’s commonly the route of desperate people, of the poorest and of those who have exhausted all other safer alternative to cross over to Europe. I share here snapshots of what I was allowed to see, photograph, and share. There are many photos I wasn’t allowed to take for fear of political backlash or of endangering the lives of the ones included in the photos. This artwork represents an invitation to reflect on the fate of the people who survived the perilous journey across the Atlantic and of the thousands who don’t make it across to Europe each year.
Featured in the exhibition are also 10 photos by two photographers who reside in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and who have been documenting migration to the islands. Celeste Bruno is an Argentinian photographer who lives and works in the Canary Islands. Manuel Navarro is a Spanish photographer native of Gran Canaria island.
*Ethnographic research was funded by the British Academy & the Leverhulme Trust.

Sin salida/No exit
I took this photo in one of the short-term residence centres for vulnerable women and children in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the summer of 2023.

‘It’s a waiting game. I’m waiting for a decision on my asylum application and can’t do anything to speed it up.’
I took this photo on the rooftop terrace of a house in Las Palmas. M. had been living there for two years, hosted by a nurse who decided to take him into her home at a friend’s recommendation.

‘Don’t take a photo of me working. I worry that they’ll think that I’m working illegally.’
I took this photo in M.’s room where he had several traditional batik fabrics. He is a tailor by trade.