While taking a relaxing walk on the Molo Longo pier, try to take your eyes off of the stunning view of the city, and pay attention to the wall on the side. There is something really cool there!

Alongside the wall of Molo Longo, you will notice 16 sentences that spread from the beginning to the very end of the pier. Sentences that speak about migration – for love, work, or a different life.

They are here as a part of an art project called Common Places, by the Spanish artist Mario Paniego. In 2016, he talked to people who had moved to Rijeka or from Rijeka who shared their stories with him and whose stories (in a sentence or two) he wrote on Molo Longo.

The main idea behind this project is migration, and that we are all migrants in one part of our lives. The name Common Places speaks about what is similar to all of us as migrants, and those are common emotions we experience.

As a sequel to the project, I recorded a video where I talk to Mario and some of the participants in 2021, five years later. I asked them who they are now, the difference between them in 2016 and 2021, and if they see themselves staying where they are or if they will continue migrating.

Check it out here.