From Syria to Calais to Britain (in a suitcase): Powerful portraits of refugees and their journeys

Artist Es Devlin's exhibition draws on the inspirational odysseys of strangers to the UK's shores

Ayman Alhussein, left, and the Es Devlin Congregation portrait of him, right. Photo: Ayman Alhussein / UNHCR

Ayman Alhussein survived a bomb blast that led to him fleeing his life in war-torn Syria to seek sanctuary but it was a year of failure in the French port of Calais that drove him to his most desperate act.

From taking a perilous trip across treacherous seas in a small boat to spending a year in the Calais jungle camp, desperately trying to jump on to trucks and trains, his efforts to reach the shores of the UK knew no bounds. Every attempt, however, was thwarted. It was only when he came up with a novel plan to smuggle himself in a suitcase on a coach to London that, finally, he took the first steps to gaining asylum.

His traumatic journey as a refugee to the UK is mirrored in the stories of thousands of others, and now renowned artist Es Devlin has chosen Mr Alhussein as one of 50 subjects to be showcased in her new exhibition entitled Congregation.

The artist and award-winning set designer, in collaboration with the UNHCR, Kings College London and art gallery The Courtauld, created large-scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who have experienced forced displacement from their homelands.

She first met them individually, as strangers, and drew them in silence. Then after 45 minutes, she pushed aside her easel and asked them to share their stories of adversity to triumph before picking up her chalk again and etching an image depicting the true inspirational person sat before her.

“I felt quite excited, honoured to be one of the 50,” Mr Alhussein, now 30, told The National. “When she asked me to tell her about myself, I started at the beginning, about my life in Syria way before the revolution and the war. We had a really happy life, until my mum got cancer when I was 14. Until then I never thought about leaving Syria.

“Then came all the corruption protests and I felt what was happening to my country was not right. I began protesting and got arrested. But it was when I nearly got killed in a bombing that I realised I could die. I thought this is real, I was 17 and I knew I had to get out.”

Smuggled

Devlin sat and listened as Alhussein, who is now a celebrated cinematographer living in London, described his journey to Turkey where he went to university to study dentistry for four years, but his status as a refugee meant he could not work after completing his course.

It then set him on a path which saw him pay people smugglers to take him in a small boat to Greece, from where he trekked across Europe to Calais in northern France, where his ultimate goal was to settle in the UK because he already had cousins living there, in Manchester.

“I expected to stay just a few days. I thought I could jump on a train to the UK but it ended up being way more difficult,” he said. “People said 'why not go to another country' but I had already wasted four years studying in Turkey and learning the language, I didn’t want to go through that again. Because I speak English I thought going to the UK would make my life easier. But I ended up staying in Calais for over a year trying to cross.

“I would jump on lorries and trains and even paid a smuggler to give me fake documents – they all failed.”

At one point the French police attacked him. “I knew I had to get out. I got two other refugees to help me and got them to put me in a suitcase and load me on a coach heading for London."

He hid for about eight hours and says he nearly suffocated. "I passed out and when I came around my whole body was numb and I had a panic attack. It was at that moment I thought: 'I don't want to die'; and I survived.”

It took three years for him to gain asylum, during which time he was pushed into modern-day slave labour working in a cafe for little pay, but despite his ordeal he managed to save enough money for a camera and it led to him making documentaries and films about refugees.

“When I look back I do not quite believe what I have done,” he said. “From the war in Syria to then getting to the UK, it just feels like a dream. It feels like my life started again five years ago and then again when I got the right to live and work in the UK.”

London life

Devlin welcomed 49 other portrait sitters into her studio over a five-month period earlier this year to reflect on their lives in London, as well as their journeys from more than 25 countries, including Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and Afghanistan.

“Each arrived dressed in a suit, as if for a formal occasion. I knew only their first name, and nothing else about them except that at some point in their lives they had experienced forced displacement from their birth country,” she said. “I drew them in chalk and charcoal on grey cardboard, seated, lit from their right, holding an empty box on their lap like a gift. We listened to Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, we looked directly into one another’s eyes, we didn’t speak at all.”

After 45 minutes, when the recording reached track 14, Shadow 1, the drawing would pause and the interview begin. “They told me their story, how they came to be in London, sometimes having travelled decades ago as small children, sometimes weeks ago on small boats. After the interview, we resumed the drawing, continuing the conversation as we worked.”

For Eid Aljazairli, being sat in the studio was little short of a miracle. He had been found unconscious floating in the Mediterranean. He had tried to escape Syria in 2016 by boat but tragedy struck when the engine failed and the vessel overturned. Not being able to swim, it was by pure chance that he managed to survive and was rescued.

Now an accounting and finance student at Kings College, Aljazairli was haunted by flashbacks of that fateful day and it inspired him to learn how to swim. “When our boat’s engine failed, we were overturned by four-metre-high waves and spent hours adrift in the water,” he said. “It was winter and half of my body had become a piece of ice, completely frozen.

“I must have collapsed because the next thing I remember was the shouting of the Turkish police who found us while patrolling the waters.”

When he reached the UK, he was placed in a London hostel with a £5 per day allowance while waiting for his refugee status to be approved. “One of those nights of waiting, I was scrolling on YouTube, and I came across a video about Michael Phelps swimming, and I could not stop watching. I wanted to be like Michael Phelps – I wanted to learn to swim,” he said.

“To begin with, I couldn’t even swim two metres. I was so terrified of the water, I had flashbacks to the crossing from Turkey to Greece. In the end, I learnt how to swim through YouTube and Google and I copied the kids in the pool. I now train four hours a day. I recently won swimmer of the year in London. My dream is the Olympics. If you can’t find me, you will find me in the water, that is my home. I turned all that fear into an amazing safe place.”

Flying high

When Maya Ghazal arrived in the UK from Syria aged 16 with her family she was unable to speak English and was rejected from schools. But the determined youngster bought herself a dictionary and taught herself the language.

She is currently training to realise her dream of becoming a pilot. She has joined a sponsored scheme by international airline Tui to fly a Boeing 737.

Sat in front of Devlin, Ghazal smiled and said: “Every day, I’m breaking barriers and challenging the misconceptions of a Syrian refugee. I’m showing you can build a life again from zero. I’m showing refugees are strong and resilient.

“I applied to study aviation with everyone warning that it's unlikely because I am a female. Only five per cent of the world's pilots are women and, probably, even fewer are refugees.”

“I believe it is super important to show that refugees have important skills and talents that are worth investing in. It is also to inspire young people to stand up for themselves and what they believe in.”

Her remarkable journey has led to her becoming a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

It was learning of stories like these that inspired Devlin to champion refugees from across the world. When she reflected on the kindness shown to Ukrainian refugees, she pondered why the same was not being shown to others escaping brutality.

“I was moved in 2022 by the generosity of spirit with which we, as a country and as individuals, offered support to those displaced by the war in Ukraine,” she said. “I wanted to understand why we have not yet been drawn to show an equivalent abundance of support to those displaced in comparable circumstances from other countries including Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Uganda and many more.

“I went to the UNHCR to learn more about the numbers and contexts of the 117 million people currently displaced globally, and the experiences of refugees now living in the UK.”

The voices of her interviewees reciting their journeys have formed part of her exhibition at London's 18th century St Mary le Strand church, which was once used by the city's refugee community.

Other stories in the exhibition included Laila Majeed, from Afghanistan, whose struggle with severe acne and eczema due to the stress and environmental changes of her ordeal led her to create her own skincare company; and that of Waleed Zuoriki, 40, who set up Yemen Land to supply coffee and honey from his homeland.

Standing alongside fellow refugees, Alhussein smiled as he noted all their achievements. “I was proud of all of them and their adversity. I felt so proud when we all stood together,” he said. “You do not see this every day and I was glad to be a part of it. It was lovely to refugees smiling.

“I really love how art can be used as activism. We live in an age where people do not always want to see the news as it is difficult and this shows how art can be a powerful way to educate people. It was nice to know we are making a difference.”