Artistic expressions as ways to preserve and open space for migrants and refugees

Abstract

As expressões artísticas como caminhos para preservar e abrir espaço a pessoas migrantes e refugiadas Roberto Marinucci1 aThe contemporary debate about migration and refuge is marked by a dispute over narratives and representations. There are approaches that feed the criminalization of migrants and refugees from a security perspective, while others emphasize the positive aspects of mobility, denounce violations and even become a sounding board from the perspective of the subjects involved. This dispute of narratives and representations is fought through "cultural products", among which, in this REMHU dossier, we highlight artistic expressions.These artistic expressions, in principle, as cultural activities, can be mobilized both to promote rights, denounce violations and to spread xenophobic and racist perspectives, moved even by the mere market and capital logic. Even so, in recent years, the importance assumed by "engaged" or "committed" art with social movements of resistance and struggle for the defense and promotion of the rights of individuals and peoples is unquestionable. The expression "artivism" (Ciurlo, 2020;Trione, 2022) goes in this direction, focusing on a way of making art in the service of a cause, directly or indirectly, in a politicalmilitant way or through an ethical engagement (Napolitano, 2011, p. 29).It is not our specific objective to enter into the complex issue of the relationship between art and politics, between aesthetics and ethics, with its possible implications. We just want to emphasize how, in fact, in recent years, artistic production has increasingly prioritized the relationship with reality, especially with the daily reality suffered and violated: the degradation of planet earth, the victims of war conflicts, the leftover masses and, specifically, the