Following the 1937 bombing of Guernica, about 4,000 people came in Southampton by ship and were originally kept in a makeshift camp outside the city.
The installation, Las Gemelas: Arrival (a lexicon of unmaking), was made by artists Sonia Boué and Ashokkumar D. Mistry using content from the University of Southampton collection.
It was called “a deeply personal account of history” by the John Hansard Gallery.
display of children’s garments in vibrant colors on ceiling-mounted clothes hangers against white walls
The clothing exbibit symbolizes Southampton’s community’s efforts to assist the refugees.
In one of the most notorious acts of the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s Nationalist forces, aided by the German and Italian air forces, attacked the little Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937.
Nearly 4,000 children were loaded onto the SS Habana, which was sailing to the port of Southampton, as thousands of families tried to take their kids abroad for protection.
Before being sent to houses, or colonies, across the nation, the children were initially kept in a makeshift camp on the outskirts of the city at North Stoneham.
