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![Triptych, COLLECTION 01: Rejections // Chapter 01.2 “Evictions.” Workshop in Platja del Bogatell, Barcelona ES.]()
![Postcard "You cannot come here." Text by K.G. Age 31, from Mali (Soninke). COLLECTION 01: Rejections// Chapter 01.2 “Evictions.” Workshop in Colosseo, Rome IT. Stamp 1960, Mali (franc): design celebrating Mali's independence from France and the country's admission to the United Nations, written in French.]()
![Postcard "You cannot come here." Text by K.G. Age 31, from Mali (Soninke). COLLECTION 01: Rejections// Chapter 01.2 “Evictions.” Workshop in Colosseo, Rome IT.]()
COLLECTION 01.2 // Evictions
“This is about the situations when someone will come and ask you to leave a place that you are living.
Maybe you are living outside in a tent or sleeping in the bus station and the police come to tell you that you cannot stay there anymore.
Or maybe you are living in an apartment but the owner of the apartment comes to tell you that he does not want you living in the apartment anymore.
Or maybe you are living in an abandoned building and the police come to tell you that you need to leave because your neighbors called the police or because the bank wants the building back.
It is the racist insults on you when they turn you away. And even though you have money, it will not be easier to find an apartment because of your skin color.
It is any situation where someone makes you leave that place… So then where can you go?”
Maybe you are living outside in a tent or sleeping in the bus station and the police come to tell you that you cannot stay there anymore.
Or maybe you are living in an apartment but the owner of the apartment comes to tell you that he does not want you living in the apartment anymore.
Or maybe you are living in an abandoned building and the police come to tell you that you need to leave because your neighbors called the police or because the bank wants the building back.
It is the racist insults on you when they turn you away. And even though you have money, it will not be easier to find an apartment because of your skin color.
It is any situation where someone makes you leave that place… So then where can you go?”
Edited by F.S. & E.C.
REF. A.I_01.2_AUG19
DATE:
Summer 2019
AUTHOR:
M., Age 31, Mandinka, from The Gambia
PLACE RECORDED:
Rebibbia, Rome IT
“The police came when I was living there. When they entered the building, they started to hit us. At first, we did not understand what was happening. I tried to translate what my people were saying into Italian. The policeman started to hit me because he did not want me to talk. They knocked everything down after to make sure that we would not return.”
REF. A.I_01.2_JAN20
DATE:
Winter 2020
AUTHOR:
K.G., Age 30, Soninke, from Mali
PLACE RECORDED:
Colosseo, Rome IT
“For many years we slept in the park in Colle Oppio. But now, every night the police car comes to tell us that we cannot be there. They tell us ‘you cannot come here anymore! Otherwise we will arrest you or give you a fine.’ This is violence. We were in that park for many years when they did not want it. It was our place. And we have nowhere to go.”
REF. A.I_01.2_AUG19
DATE:
Summer 2019
AUTHOR:
M., Age 30, Wolof, from Senegal
PLACE RECORDED:
Pigneto, Rome IT
“They told us that in the next day, they would close the shelter where we sleep. And the next day, they put everyone in the street. They put all of our belongings outside. I can stay with my friend in his apartment. He has a job with a contract, so he lives in an apartment that he pays for. I am lucky that I can stay with him. Many of my other friends are not so lucky.”
REF. B.II_01.2_AUG21
DATE:
Summer 2021
AUTHOR:
F.S., Age 23, Serer, from Senegal
PLACE RECORDED:
Lleida, Catalonia ES
“All this suffering has made me think - what can I do to find a house? First I would have to find a job… but I could not find any job because I don’t have a document. So what crossed my mind, with a friend of mine, was to break the rules and sneak into the abandoned houses. So we did that and it worked for a little while, but it was a challenge for us. If the neighbors notice that you are living there, they immediately call the police and the police come to tell us we cannot stay in the house. The police told us that the bank would give us a little money to leave the place. But the money was only enough for one month, so after that, it meant back to homelessness… that’s the sad truth.”