Door: Levi Westerveld
“This map shows in a single image the people who lost their lives as they tried to reach European shores from 2005 to 2015. These men, women, and children were fleeing conflict and instability in Africa and the Middle East. My artistic decisions were driven by the question, “How can a map show the sheer number of victims in such a tragedy without abstracting the uniqueness of each individual?
Assigning a unique dot to each victim helped to portray the unsettling number of recorded losses. I placed red dot symbols on the map, one by one, based on the location information of each accident. The lack of a distinct geometry behind the configuration of these islands of victims humanizes them and highlights their position suspended between their places of origin and planned destinations. By flattening destination countries into black coastlines, the map illustrates what victims were waiting to see on the horizon.”
https://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/2237
