(3 Jul 2016) LEAD IN:
An artist and writer are producing a graphic novel about migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
Husband and wife team, Peter Eickmeyer and Gaby von Borstel are onboard a rescue vessel to record the humanitarian work being done.
STORY-LINE:
As the MS Aquarius sails the Mediterranean Sea, one couple is capturing her story.
Artist Peter Eickmeyer is sketching everyday scenes onboard this rescue vessel.
He jots down details as the crew scans the waters near the Libyan coast, on the look out for migrants in danger as they attempt the treacherous journey to Europe.
Below deck, Eickmeyer's wife Gaby von Borstel is writing the words that will accompany his drawings.
Their aim is to create a graphic novel that tells the tale of the rescue operation.
The Aquarius is a former fishery protection vessel that is now operated by the humanitarian association, SOS Mediterranee.
Working alongside the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), it patrols the waters between Europe and north Africa, rescuing migrants and refugees from boats in distress.
Eickmeyer and von Borstel were inspired to get involved in the project after meeting the founder of SOS Mediterranee, Klaus Vogel.
He told the couple he had asked himself what he could do to help bring about an end to the deaths at sea.
"We asked ourselves the same questions, what can we do?" says Eickmeyer.
"And I've produced first sketches and sent them to Berlin. And the man came back, 'Ok, great idea. Let's see what we can do'."
They hope the work will challenge perceptions of the migrant crisis.
"We want to present SOS Mediterranee as an organisation and the Aquarius as a rescue boat. And we wanted to take it out of the daily news coverage and present it as a book and through that change the public opinion," says von Borstel.
Eickmeyer's water colours show the crew at work, looking out over the sea and in smaller boats as they pull people from the water.
But painting these scenes relies on calm weather.
"It only works if the waves are not too high. Because that's too shaky!" the artist laughs.
The Aquarius has the capacity to rescue between 200 and 500 people at a time.
More than 3,700 migrants died while crossing the Mediterranean last year, according to a report by the International Organisation for Migration.
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