Although created in 2014, Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen’s End of Dreams creates a hauntingly accurate portrayal of death and the subsequent silence that migrants are faced with when attempting to seek asylum. When reading Welch’s piece, I realized the appropriateness of choosing Italy as the country to display his artwork. In recent years the amount of migrant arrivals in Italy has skyrocketed, surpassing that of all other European countries. End of Dreams served as a chilling prelude to the death and silence that would accompany Italy in the coming years. From January 1^st 2017 to April 19^th 2017 alone, there have been 42,974 migrant arrivals to Mediterranean countries, with 36,703 of those arrivals occurring in Italy¹. Although many migrants did make it into Europe safely, there were still 962 deaths that occurred en route to European countries which border the Mediterranean Sea, with 898 of those deaths occurring on the journey to Italy. Reading about the amount of deaths that have occurred en route to Italy reminded me of End of Dreams and the silence that follows the death of migrants. Often on the news they portray the amount of migrants which are entering a nation, never mentioning the dangers and death that accompany the voyages. End of Dreams gave a voice to those who did not make it to a new life and were silenced at sea.

End of Dreams and Welch’s piece also serve as a catalyst for Italy to acknowledge and come to terms with their history and the role they played in colonialism. The surge of migrants into Italy from about 1.3 million in 2002 to over 5 million in 2016 is causing the nation to rapidly play catch up with their history of oppression. As more migrants are entering Italy by the year, it is important that those migrants are not silenced. Italy has been faced with a large responsibility which is to aid the growing number of migrants in their country. As the number of migrants enter the country, Italy must come to terms with their history and be accepting of the change that is occurring in order to provide a better life for those seeking refuge.

1. _{^{This statistic comes from the International Organization for Migration.}} https://www.iom.int/news/mediterranean-migrant-arrivals-approach-43000-2017-deaths-962

        _{2.Refugees and migrants onboard the Migrant Offshore Aid Station Phoenix vessel en route to Catania, Italy. (Chris McGrath /       Getty Images)}