Artists both sides of the English Channel and beyond are rallying in support of the estimated 6,000 refugees who are living in dire conditions in the camp in Calais known as the Jungle. The London-based artists, The Connor Brothers, have founded Refugee Response Foundation, a charity that builds wooden shelters in the camp. Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova and the US street artist Swoon are ambassadors for the organisation.
Tolokonnikova, who is due to visit the camp for the first time with The Connor Brothers at the end of January when the charity aims to build 50 more shelters, says the response by politicians to the refugee crisis has been “shockingly pitiful”. She says: “If European governments won’t help, artists must lead the way in responding to this desperate humanitarian crisis.”
The majority of people in the Jungle sleep in tents and makeshift shacks that leak and offer little protection from the biting wind. Fires are a frequent hazard; more than 300 people were left homeless after a blaze ripped through the camp in December. Sanitation is non-existent and dysentery is an increasing problem, but there is no United Nations or Red Cross presence to help.
Mike Snelle, of The Connor Brothers, says he hopes to raise £1m over the course of 2016, which will fund a programme to train volunteers to build shelters, as well as help asylum seekers arriving in London with living and legal costs.
In France, too, artists are backing refugees in Calais. As we went to press, the French artist Corine Pagny was organising an art trail in the Jungle from 17 to 20 December to coincide with International Migrants Day on 18 December. The exhibition consists of works created by around 30 refugee artists.
A petition launched in October by 800 French artists and cultural figures, including Christian Boltanski, Sophie Calle and Thomas Hirschhorn is also gaining momentum. Signatories are calling on the French government to create an emergency action plan to help refugees in the Jungle.