Beautiful World, Where are You?

This is the title of the Liverpool Biennial 2018, and this picture shows a part of an image made by the artist Banu Ginnetoglu, in which she lists 34,361 refugees who have lost their lives in Europe or on its borders since 1993 and provides outlines of details of information known about them. It is installed on a 280 metre hoarding in Great georges Street and is badly damaged.

At first, I was unsure whether this was petty vandalism, or pre-meditated racism, but the fact that it has been so severely damaged, targeted and  and torn on so many occasions leads to the conclusion that these were deliberate acts of defacement. The tears bring tears to my eyes, and belie the city's reputation for warmth, generosity and hospitality. But, in a strange sort of way, they add to the anger of the piece.