I did it – I posted a photo of a lifejacket on Instagram after a landing. Although I had sworn to myself that I would avoid pictures of this fetish of many media and artists.
The landing was dramatic. The initial care of the arrivals brought us all close to our limits. Afterwards, a colleague gave me the life jacket of a two-year-old child. I held it in my hands, stared at it and almost burst into tears. It was so small and printed in cheerful colors. “Pool School” – that's what children should use to learn to swim, not to ensure their lives on the high seas.
Just days before, I brusquely rejected an artist's request on Instagram to send her life jackets. Now this vest is lying in my room, and I keep staring at it.
Art from life jackets: witnesses to the incomprehensible
Life jackets have long since found their way into art. They stand not only for survival, but also for the failure of a world order that forces people to entrust their lives to such pieces of fabric.
1. Ai Weiwei: “F Lotus”
2. Memorial in Lesbos
3. Pedro Pires: 14.000 Newton
Why do we find the life jacket so fascinating? Perhaps because it is more than an object – it is a paradox. A sign of rescue and danger, hope and despair at the same time.
Their bright colors scream for attention, but they conceal the stories of those who had to wear them. They become a symbol that brings the abstract tragedy of flight to us, while at the same time creating distance. We see them as tangible witnesses to a crisis – and yet the people behind them often remain invisible.
This ambivalence is dangerous. It reduces the suffering of flight to a symbol, making it more easily consumable and aesthetically digestible. Life jackets as art or on social media can evoke concern – but do they change anything?
As long as we celebrate life jackets as symbols of supposed safety – staged as the last rescue from the deadly sea – we show how deeply the world fails in its responsibility. The fetishization of these vests, which serve as emotional clickbait in social media, distracts from the real tragedy: a world order that forces babies to rely on “Pool School” vests for their survival instead of providing them with safe routes.
Instead of glorifying or romanticizing the life jacket, we should ask ourselves why it is necessary at all – and how we can create a reality in which it no longer plays a role.
The Lampedusa Project
- Year
- 2024-2025
- Venues
- Lampedusa, Italy
- Blog