Artur Widak Exhibition in Rathmines College's Culture Night Programme

Artur Widak  is a Polish photojournalist, currently based in Dublin. His striking images have been highly acclaimed and published internationally; publications include The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Independent (UK) and many more. This Friday, Sept 16th, Culture Night in Ireland, his moving and thought-provoking exhibition 'The Path to Freedom: pictures illustrating the journey refugees are taking from war-torn countries to Europe' can be seen in Rathmines Town Hall between 5 and 9pm.

Artur Widak and budding photographer

  

Imagine the countries of Europe erecting fences

Imagine the countries of Europe erecting Auschwitzian barbed-wire fences

with no man’s land between: grassy lanes lush with ragworth, thistle and buttercup.

Imagine, like water released into channels, migrants flowing into these paths,

growing from trickle to torrent, eventually filling them; a teeming mass

constantly jostled onward to no destination.

The season passing into winter, the grassy paths turned muddy with traffic, then frozen under snow;

a metre to either side border guards watching with disinterested expressions.

Imagine these flowing borders across the map of Europe,

serenaded with the music of its civilization from behind the wires of Hungary, Austria,

the Czech Republic: Mozart, Bartok, Mahler…….

The seasons pass, bodies pile up against the fences like layers of insulation;

and the citizens all snug in their European Agreements.