À DERIVA

The original text by Athol Fugard, The Island, gives birth to À Deriva. While Fugard’s play addressed apartheid South Africa, À Deriva’s director adapted the original plot to address the lives of refugees who fail to reach the hopeful European Mediterranean shore, instead being captured, exploited and enslaved.

Because of the humanitarian crisis the play reflects on, Rafael’s approach to the set design was one which sought to capture the brutality of the oppression which refugees face. The video work carried this message further, by confronting the affluent Global North viewer with this reality in direct comparison to those which are commonplace in their daily life, relatively free from want and war.