Objects, Debris and Memory of the Mediterranean Passage: Porto M in Lampedusa

Abstract

This article focuses on memorial objects witnessing the current migratory Mediterranean passage towards Lampedusa. The arrival of migrants’ boats on the island has produced a large quantity of ‘debris’, which the locals have stored in improvised ghastly ‘cemeteries’ of boats. Within the island, the local collective Askavusa has played a central role in rescuing items that accompany the migrants on their often deadly passage from the wrecked boats. These objects are displayed to the public in the space Porto M as shared material testimonies to the traumatic memory of continuous perilous passages “threatening” European borders and identity. These objects become the symbols of an “aesthetics of subversion” meant to give a new sense to the migratory experience of these mostly faceless and nameless travellers.