‘A Paper Monument for the Paperless’ by artist Himmelsbach highlights the issues surrounding migration and those rendered stateless by state procedures. The action for 10 December was also initiated by Himmelsbach. Platform BK merely spreads the word and participates.

‘A Paper Monument for the Paperless’ started with community portrait workshops and grew into an international guerrilla monument for undocumented refugees. With this series of woodcuts, Himmelsbach emphasises the vulnerability and invisibility of this group of people who have been so inhumanly excluded from society.

The artist distributes poster sets of the sixty portraits, which are distributed through numerous flyposting actions through the streets of more than 30 European cities (and beyond). By showing the personal engraved faces of refugees, the project counterbalances the cold, abstract approach to this group by official bodies and the media.

Meanwhile, the woodcuts have also been exhibited at various galleries, fairs and museums. The portraits were printed into a limited edition in a pop-up studio as part of the Freethinkers exhibition at the Amsterdam Museum. To include this story in our public memory also through official means.

To create more visibility, besides poster sets, the artist has now created an open source pdf of the portraits and invites everyone to print them and hang them in a public place: https://linktr.ee/papermonument