2019 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1(2) Figure 7: ‘My Papers, My History’ — Travel Document for Palestinian Refugees. COLONIAL LEGACIES The stateless art interlocutors, all stationed in Europe, use art to build a dialogue on Europe’s historical colonial connection to the issue. Historical post-colonial ties linking European colonial empires to the creation of stateless populations show this deep European connection. Zahra Al-Barazi and Jason Tucker shed light on how, when the Middle East and North Africa were separated into nation-states under European colonial rule, they were largely split according to colonial divisions, creating a plethora of stateless populations. 28 This was relevant for most regions across the world under colonial rule. In this context, the experiences of stateless populations are discussed as exterior to the European experience, only considered when defined by suffering worthy of European rescue. Therefore, stateless art interlocutors subvert this understanding of statelessness as fundamentally non-European, that evokes only pity for the stateless ‘Other’, evoking empathy rather than sympathy. Firstly, stateless art interlocutors highlight these historical connections, indicating a European responsibility in the foundation of stateless populations. For example, Zaraa recounts a conversation with UK border guards: ‘I told them your government is responsible for why I have this travel document’, creating a link to European colonial history, Palestinian exodus, and his own personal plight. Indeed, Zaraa often switches from the collective ‘we’ of stateless Palestinians to ‘I’ to recall his personal experience, showing how closely intertwined he considers his own experience as a stateless individual to the geo-political history of his 28 Zahra Al-Barazi and Jason Tucker, ‘Challenging the Disunity of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa’ in Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss and Phillip Cole (eds), Understanding Statelessness (Routledge 2017) 87, 88. 324