44
regulated and monitored and Greece - arguably in a bid to retain a perceived iron hold on
the category of citizenship and access to it - continues to resist EU attempts to provide
legal and regulated passage through them.
As I walked back down Petrou Ralli Street deep in my thoughts I looked up and
saw a strange figure staring back at me. A large modem sculpture constructed of scrap
metal and garbage stood two stories tall in the parking lot of an abandoned factory. I
hadn’t noticed this artifact on my way to the Bureau as I was walking on the other side of
the street, but now facing the thing I was completely transfixed. The figure represented a
crazed woman with wild hair. She was screaming and clutching the sides of her body
with rusted hands. A gash tore from what would be her pelvis up to her chest to reveal a
red material which captured the light and twinkled with revolting realism. She was
painted black except for where the rust had flaked away to reveal brown underneath, and
her eyes were blue. No plaque or marking explained the piece or identified an artist. She
simply stood in failed space, trapped in a horrible moment, violated, exposed, and
abandoned.
As Jigo becomes more established and if he cannot find work at the market, he
will most likely sell his labor illegally in the agricultural sector or in the city at one of
numerous manufacturing companies that exploit illegal workers in factories or most
likely at construction sites as casual labor (unless he Ieams a specific skill)44. He may
44 The issue of undocumented migrant exploitation by companies in Greece has recently made news in the
country. Greece’s highest court recently ruled in favour of illegal Albanian immigrants who were
underpaid by the farm owner they worked for. This ruling came as a surprise to Greece’s agricultural
sector which relies heavily on immigrant labour (about 90% of the workforce according to Haralambos
Kasimis, professor of rural sociology at the Agricultural University of Athens), a large percentage of which
is also undocumented migrant labour. However, it should be noted that undocumented migrants still have