Five Turner Prize winners, including Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, and Jeremy Deller, are fundraising for refugees by making unique works using pencils and crayons rescued from the ruins of the former migrant camp known as the “Jungle” in Calais, France. On view in London through the end of March, the works will be sold at auction at Phillips on April 11, with the proceeds going to various refugee charities.
Fellow Turner Prize winners Richard Deacon and Mark Wallinger, twice nominated Sean Scully, American artist Nari Ward, and the Syria-born, London-based Sara Shamma are also among the many international artists who have donated works for the charity auction. The collaboration, called Multicolor, is organized by the refugee charity Migrate Art.
The Jungle was the makeshift home to a community of around 10,000 refugees before it was razed to the ground by French authorities in 2016. In the days after the camp was destroyed, the charity’s founder, Simon Butler, collected discarded crayons and pencils from a school for migrant children. The artists have used the found materials to make new work for the auction.
Rachel Whiteread, House (2018) Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
The works, which respond to the challenge in diverse ways, will be included in Phillips’s forthcoming “New Now” sale. Ahead of the auction, they will be on view in an exhibition at 9 Cork Street from March 20 to 31, which those interested can register to attend. The proceeds from the sale will be shared among several charities, with 90 percent going equally to RefuAid, Refugee Community Kitchen, the Lotus Flower, and the Worldwide Tribe. The remaining 10 percent will go toward future projects organized by Migrate Art.
Other artists who have contributed work include to the project: Gary Hume, Michael Craig-Martin, the Connor Brothers, Jonathan Yeo, Annie Kevans, Ron Arad, Chantal Joffe, Annie Morris, Edmund de Waal, Conrad Shawcross, Idris Kahn, Keith Coventry, Kevin Francis Gray, Maggi Hambling, Paola Pivi, Pejac, Raqib Shaw, Richard Woods, Robert Montgomery, Zhang Huan, and Yahon Chang. Street artists Conor Harrington and Swoon have also contributed.
See more images of the artworks below.
Nari Ward, Butterfly Flame(2018). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Maggi Hambling’s work for “MULTICOLOUR.” (2019) Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Pejac, Reyuela (2019). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Michael Craig-Martin, Migrate (2019). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Mark Wallinger, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (2019). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Conor Harrington, Masters of Money and Mirrors (Study)(2019). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Zhang Huan, Incense Brick (2018). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.
Sean Scully, 12.4.18 (2018). Donated by the artist to Migrate Art.