Lech Szporer

Manteros (Spain & Senegal, 2018-2020)

Manteros Selling Police Toys / Manteros Vendiendo Juguetes Policiales

"Manteros" are undocumented ad hoc street vendors, named after the blankets they use to display their wares. Fleeing violent dictatorships, terrorist insurgencies, and economic stagnation, over the last decade the majority of refugees fleeing to Europe have come from sub-Saharan countries along the Sahel region of North and Central Africa.

Many young sub-Saharan men and women who manage to cross the deadly Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea alive make it to Europe only to find themselves in yet another impossible situation under harsh immigration laws. In Spain, for example, For 3 years the undocumented are expected to survive for 3 years without residency papers, without work, without support of any kind. Add to that the persistence of cultural and institutional racism in Europe makes things particularly harder for African immigrants seeking refuge, and many are forced to live in limbo, in an ever vulnerable and precarious legal condition. As a result, a lot of young men desperately become ad hoc streets vendors selling knock-off goods to tourists in order to survive. This increases the cycle of police harassment.

Underwriting this power narrative through satire and artistic détournement, two Manteros were hired to sell police toys to the Spanish public outside of Atocha, the central railway station in Madrid.

Never Forget Mame Mbaye/No Olvidamos Mame Mbaye – Acto de Memoria/Memorial Action

On March 15th, 2018, Spanish police chased an undocumented immigrant named Mame Mbaye from the tourist-heavy Puerta del Sol in Madrid's city center down several blocks to Lavapies, an immigrant neighborhood. While being pursued by these police officers, Mbaye suffered a heart attack and died in the open street. The scene of yet another black man killed on the heels of the police deeply affected locals and led to a week-long social upheaval. This all too common death of black males when faced with police aggression recalls "I Can’t Breathe", "Hands Up, Don't Shoot", and what would later come to be known as the Black Lives Matter movement.

On the one year anniversary of Mame Mbaye´s death, the Sindicato de los Manteros, along with the Lavapies community, placed an official peoples’ plaque at the location of his sudden death to commemorate his life and to call out institutional racism and the constant violence against the Manteros and other immigrants in Spain. The sign reads: "On this street died, on March 15, 2018, Mame Mbaye, a victim of the institutional racism of the Spanish state.”

Mbaye’s Brothers (Mbour, Senegal, 2020)

We went to Mbour, Senegal, to meet the brothers of Mame Mbaye and to give them t-shirts signed by fellow Manteros in Madrid, Spain. We also conducted an interview with his brothers in order to memorialize him. I wanted to see where this young man had came from with my own eyes. And I wanted to show his family in Senegal that there are fellow immigrants in Spain fighting for human rights in honor of Mbaye’s name. By connecting the Sindicato de los Manteros with the brothers of an immigrant who died while being pursued by the police, we sought to reconcile at least with his family, the unnecessary premature death of a young person simply seeking a means of survival.

Pantera Store/Manteros Clothing Company (2021-present)

Immigrant-owned and operated anti-racist clothing company and store located in the heart of Madrid, Spain. Pantera is not only a clothing store. Pantera hires undocumented refugees in order to help them get their residency papers. Pantera is both an anti-xenophobic clothing store and a citizenship machine. Having started an immigrant-owned and operated clothing company, longstanding community activists can help new comers find their network of support. This often includes paralegal support, translation, and help in seeking safe employment options. All clothing for sale is original clothing, designed and fabricated by the Sindicato de los Manteros. More than anything, Pantera is a statement of creative defiance and self-determination.

Tapestry of Spectacles (Spain, 2018)/Refugee Readymades (2018-2019) 

Refugee readymades are visual artworks made out of desperation and the will to survive and grow beyond a given means, or lack there of. It is people’s will to grow in spite of the obstacles placed upon them. Inverting the street blanket (manta) into a verticle tapestry of spectacles facing the viewer head-on helps us see the aesthetic of ad hoc capitalism, of street-selling in order to survive and the many faces staring at us as we walk through the streets.